The Plan and the Council

Comrades, in the old world production was steered by profit: what sold was made, and what was needed but did not pay was left undone. In the Commonwealth we decide together what we need, and set ourselves to make it. That decision is the plan. This lecture explains how the plan is made, changed and fulfilled on our server, and how the council stands above it.

Plan periods

The plan runs in periods of three weeks. The game master opens each period, and a new one begins when the last ends. Each period has targets: a product, a quantity, a unit, and the institution responsible for it. For example: 2,000 iron ingots, the Planning Commission; one granary, the Distribution Office.

The Plan page on the website shows the running period with its progress, the next one being planned, and every past period with how many targets were met. Opening and closing are announced in the game with the horn.

How targets are fulfilled

There are two ways a target counts progress:

• Delivered goods. A target may name a Minecraft item, such as minecraft:iron_ingot. Then every delivery of that item to the common stores (/cw deliver, with the goods in your main hand) is counted towards it automatically, and its quantity counts single items. Such a target takes no reports by hand: the goods must really arrive.
• Reported work. Other targets (a bridge, a road, a colony's growth) are reported by hand on the target's page: how much was done, with a short note. The Laws require honest reports (section 4.1); false ones are a breach (section 3.2), and the game master can void them. Voided reports stay visible, struck through.

Meeting a target is announced to everyone.

Changing the plan

No one changes the plan alone. Any citizen may propose a change on the Plan page, and so may the Planning Commission:

• Add a target (product, quantity, unit, responsible institution, and optionally the Minecraft item whose deliveries count).
• Change a target's quantity, institution or item.
• Drop a target.

Every proposal becomes a motion in the council, with the reasons for it. If the council adopts it, it waits for the game master, who approves or rejects it with a public note. Only an approved change alters the plan.

The Planning Commission also reviews the running period by itself about once a day, and may table changes when the plan falls behind or runs ahead. You can bring it your own ideas and questions with /cw commission <proposal>.

The council

The council of all citizens is the highest authority, above the plan and every institution:

• Anyone may table a motion on the Council page, open for 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 days (3 by default).
• Each citizen votes for, against or abstain. The vote is secret; the tally is public; a vote may be changed until voting closes.
• A motion is decided when voting closes. At least half of the active citizens must have voted (abstentions count towards this quorum), and it needs more votes for than against. A tie is a rejection; too few votes decide nothing.
• The author may withdraw a motion before it closes.

The council also decides the tax quota, appeals against the institutions' decisions, and amendments to the laws.

Work, merit and the plan

The Commonwealth honours the work of the plan with merit. Goods you deliver for a plan target earn plan merit on your running total for the period: one point for every 10 contribution units, counted on the total, never rounded up per delivery (so splitting a stack earns nothing more). Taking part in the council earns merit too: 3 points for a motion of yours that is put to the vote, 1 for every motion you vote on. The citizen with the most merit in a period that has ended receives the medal Hero of Socialist Labour.

Why it matters

A plan is only as good as the people who make it and the work that fulfils it. Read the Plan page at the start of each period, propose what the Commonwealth lacks, vote on what others propose, and deliver. The second lecture treats tax in kind, the common stores and the State Bank: /cw lecture economy 2. Questions: /cw ask professor-economy <question>.