Introduction
Topics relating to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and, more particularly, its proclaimed ideology — Juche — is one which generates controversy amongst modern revolutionary circles. Certain comrades perceive the DPRK as a modern socialist state and active proletarian dictatorship whom they openly uphold, whereas others regard the DPRK and its ideology of Juche as revisionist deviations from Marxist theory.
To understand the correct position on this issue, we must first articulate what Juche is from an anti-revisionist prospective. Therefore, what are the contents of this ideology?The fundamentals of Juche
The Juche deviation from Scientific Socialism
The Juche reversion to Anti-Dialectical Idealism
What are Stalinists' Stances towards the Modern DPRK?
The fundamentals of Juche
Juche, or more fully, the Juche Idea, has a definition in the Korean language which pertains to self-reliance and independence. These concepts are among the most defining features of Juche. While it is the case that self-reliance in both economics and politics for the socialist state are desirable, we must understand the difference between self-reliance in the socialist sense, and the self-reliance advocated by Juche. For the former, the concept of socialist self-reliance was elaborated upon excellently by Enver Hoxha in his work Imperialism and the Revolution, during which he states:
"In no case do the capitalists provide their credits for the construction of socialism. They provide them to destroy socialism. Therefore a genuine socialist country never accepts credits, in any form, from a capitalist, bourgeois or revisionist country."
However, the concept of self-reliance and independence as promoted by Juche differs greatly from this understanding. In the text On Nationalism by Kim Jong Il:
"When independence of a country and nation is safeguarded and its independent development achieved, the destiny of the masses of the people, the members of the country and nation, can be successfully carved out and independent and creative life provided to them. In order to defend the independence of a country and nation and ensure its prosperity, it is important to have a correct understanding of nationalism. Only then can people achieve the unity of their nation."
Thus the "self-reliance" and "independence" as upheld by Juche is not the same self-reliance as upheld by non-revisionist theorists such as Enver Hoxha, which is employed to prevent the restoration of capitalism and consistent building of socialism, but is, fundamentally, the same "national independence" and autarkic economics as conceived by fascists and other reactionary figures such as Mussolini or Hitler. In more particular wording, this "self-reliance" and "independence" which is promoted both by fascism and Juche is one that omits class conflict and struggle in favor of class collaborationist and bourgeois nationalist aims.
Indeed, this class collaborationist manner of thought projected itself into North Korean economic and political policy. From the early decades of the DPRK exclusively, the Workers' Party of Korea is known to have promoted a line of a "shared" class dictatorship with bourgeois elements and denied the need for a proletarian dictatorship (similar to the revisionist concept of New Democracy in Maoism).
As to the relationship between Juche and Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, in the words of the Korean Friendship Association:
"Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism is an integrated system of the idea, theory and method of Juche and the great revolutionary ideology representative of the Juche era. The Juche idea is, in a word, an idea that the masses of the people are the masters and motive force of the revolution and construction. [...] By applying Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, it holds fast to the principles of Juche in ideology, independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy and selfreliance in national defence, values the Juche character and national identity, and strictly adheres to them."
Hence from the description of this ideology which has been provided, we may understand that Kimilsungism represents Juche in its political application to society. But what is more, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is said to be applicable not only to the conditions of Korea, but universally!
The Juche deviation from Scientific Socialism
Many of the foreign supporters of Juche — most of whom being self-styled "Marxist–Leninists" — regard Juche as simply Leninist doctrine applied to the material circumstances of Korea, and therefore accept its many dissimilarities from Marxism no matter how stark they may be. While this notion contains an aspect of truth, this is hastily refutable when considering the stance of the main theorists of Juche themselves.
When reading the library of Juche material created by both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, we see near-omnipresent references to the "originality" of the Juche Idea and Kimilsungism:
"The Juche philosophy is an original philosophy which has been evolved and systematized with its own principles. The historic contribution made by the Juche philosophy to the development of philosophical thoughts lies not in its advancement of Marxist materialistic dialectics, but in its clarification of new philosophical principles centred on man. [...] The Juche philosophy is an original philosophy which is fundamentally different from the preceding philosophy in its task and principles. That is why we should not understand the Juche philosophy as a philosophy that has developed materialistic dialectics, nor should we attempt to prove the originality and advantages of the Juche philosophy by arguing one way or the other about the essence of the material world and the general law of its motion which were clarified byTo further articulate the nature which Kimilsungism and Juche view themselves in relation to "preceding philosophy" (that being Leninism):
the Marxist philosophy. " (Emphasis is mine)
"Lenin developed Marxism and advanced Leninism in accordance with the new historical conditions whereby capitalism had entered the phase of imperialism, with the result that he inspired the working class and the rest of the people to the struggle to destroy imperialist strongholds and to achieve freedom and liberation. This marked the beginning of transition from capitalism to socialism. Our leader [Kim Il Sung] created the great Juche idea after acquiring a deep insight into the requirements of a new era when the oppressed and humiliated masses of the people became masters of their own destiny. Thus he developed their struggle for independence onto a higher plane and opened up the age of Juche, a new era in the development of human history." (Emphasis is mine)Therefore, in spite of the Western revisionists' thesis of Juche merely being an application of Marxism–Leninism to the peculiarities of North Korea, the founding ideologists of Juche instead hold that Juche represents not an application of Marxism, but an "original" ideology which transcends Marxism. Further, the Jucheist ideologists themselves hold that this "original idea" is not merely restricted in scope to Korea, but to all countries.
Ergo ipso facto, Juche openly regards itself as a deviation and revision from Marxism, albeit under the heavily euphemistic terms of "original" and "development". This open declaration of revisionism which Kimilsungism provides upon itself is, notably, uncommon amongst revisionist groupings. For instance, Maoists attempt to pose as "Marxist–Leninist–Maoists" and assert that their omission of the theory of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin in favor of the chauvinistic revisions of Mao and Gonzalo are in fact "dialectical developments" to Marxist theory. This is not the case with Juche.
It is relevant that we understand the difference between revisions and augmentations of revolutionary theory. Revolutionary theory is not "replaced" as the revisionist ideology of Juche maintains, rather, it is adapted and made more potent with the experience of revolutionaries over decades. When Lenin conceived of the concept of imperialism, he did not regard Marxism — whose founders of Marx and Engels did not live in the epoch of imperialism — as a "restriction" to be "replaced" with his own "original idea". Rather, he incorporated his developments into the already potent arsenal of Marxism; making the international revolutionary movement all the more stronger.
The Juche reversion to Anti-Dialectical Idealism
Juche ideology holds that one of its core aspects is that of being "man-centered". This prospective is taken to the extent that Juche maintains that man is the "master of everything". Kim Jong Il states:
"That the world outlook of the materialistic dialectics [dialectical materialism] is the premise for the Juche philosophy does not mean that the Juche philosophy has merely inherited and developed the materialistic dialectics. Although it would be impossible to acquire a scientific understanding of the world and transform it without the materialistic dialectical understanding of the adjective material world, you cannot draw the conclusion that man is the master of the world and plays a decisive role in transforming the world simply from the proposition of
materialism that the world is made of material and from the dialectical principle that the world ceaselessly changes and develops. Only on the basis of the clarification of man’s essential qualities which distinguish man radically from all the other material beings can man’s outstanding position and role as the master of the world capable of transforming the world be clarified. Only on he basis of man’s essential qualities as a social being with independence, creativity and consciousness as scientifically clarified by the Juche philosophy has the basic principle that man is the master of the world and plays the decisive role in transforming the world been clarified."
This quasi-bourgeois humanist stance which is propagated represents a clear distortion of Marxist dialectical and historical materialism. While humanity represents the most advance species to exist on this world, man is nonetheless trenchantly, if not entirely, effected by the material circumstance which encircle us. Human will exclusively is not what advanced society forwards, but the development of the productive forces and advancement of class society and later class struggle.
To this end, Kimilsungism takes on the view that society is determined and advanced solely by the level of "will" which the "popular masses" maintain, rather than material circumstances.
To this end, Kimilsungism takes on the view that society is determined and advanced solely by the level of "will" which the "popular masses" maintain, rather than material circumstances.
Jucheist "Anti-Revisionism": Revisionism in a new form
Juche, despite its vast amount of ideological revisions and deviations, still asserts itself to be of an anti-revisionist stance!
Yet when were the instances where the Korean Workers' Party made an effort to combat Maoist or Khrushchevite revisionism? We seldom hear of the "Sino-Korean" or "Soviet-Korean" splits. This is of course due to the fact that North Korea, since the rise of revisionism in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, has consistently aligned itself with revisionism in one regard or another. This is so much the case, that the Workers' Party of Korea remained servile to the social-imperialist Soviet Union to the end, with Kim Il Sung avidly supporting Micheal Gorbachev, remarking that:
“This new change now taking place in the Soviet Union [i.e. the final dismantlement of socialism] is unthinkable apart from the energetic activities of Comrade M. S. Gorbachev, a staunch Marxist-Leninist.”
Furthermore, it is often said — commonly by the Western bourgeois media and academia — that the DPRK itself has remained "Stalinist", in contrast to the "liberalized" (Khruschevite) Soviet Union. As to the truth of this assertion, while the DPRK never fully "de-Stalinized", it did not remain stalwart to the ideals of Stalin and other theorists and leaders of Marxism. Rather, it went on a direction analogous to that of Romania under the revisionist leadership of Nicolae Ceausescu. That is to say, Juche neither is Stalinist nor Khruschevite, but rather, like Ceausescuism, represents a bourgeois nationalist deviation from Marxism itself. North Korea, like former Ceausescuist Romania, is merely Stalinist in symbols exclusively, while revisionist in actions.
Hence, the notion that Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is "anti-revisionist" is of similar validity to the notion that Maoists are "anti-revisionists". That is, the "anti-revisionism" of Kimilsungism is not anti-revisionism, but itself a defense of revisionism, as is the case with Maoist "anti-revisionism". This false "anti-revisionism" which is in truth a new form of revisionism is understood as being neo-revisionism.
The "followers" of Juche outside of the DPRK
Juche, as noted previously, asserts itself to be an ideology which is of a universal scope. It is therefore important to remark on the few followers of the Juche Idea outside of the DPRK itself.
There exist very few parties which profess the Juche Idea as a leading ideology which are external to the DPRK. The closet there is to such a thing are dozens of paltry "study groups" spread across various countries, all of which are entirely absent of political influence and connection to the proletariat, and all function with nearly theistic, cultist reverence to the icons of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. There additionally exist "Korean Friendship Associations", made up largely of people who hold dual-memberships with various revisionist parties in Western countries.
Most other foreign Jucheists are known to hold neo-fascist and racist views, with there existing a trend of so-called "White Nationalist Juche" which holds meager influence across various reactionary circles. It must be said that these adherents of Juche are not deviating from it (as Juche itself represents a deviation), but "faithfully and creatively applying" Juche to their "material conditions", with them likely being influenced by Kim Jong Il's works which bear titles such as "The Idea of a Multinational, Multiracial Society Means Destruction of the Korean Nation".
Thus we can see clearly that from the lack of any notable Jucheist organization outside of Korea itself, Juche — being a chauvinistic deviation — is not at all universal, and the supposed "age of Juche" which Kim Il Sung "bestowed" upon the international proletariat remains a mere pipe-dream which is influenced by a revisionist's megalomania.
What are Stalinists' Stances towards the Modern DPRK?
Juche is inseparable from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We Marxist–Leninist–Stalinists are unconditionally opposed to all forms of revisionism. For revisionism is capitalism in a new form, and has always resulted in tragic losses for the proletariat. Jucheist revisionism presents no exception. In the present DPRK, a similar process of open capitalist restoration as what was seen in Deng's China or the Khruschevite–Brezhnevite Soviet Union is taking place, even if at a slower pace. The DPRK, additionally, has in recent times proved itself to be a militant ally of the semi-fascist Putinist regime in the Russian Federation and the social-fascist state of China, with the North Korean government being the first nation to recognize the Russian "annexation" of lands in Ukraine and Donbas and has otherwise supported the Russian imperialist invasion of Ukraine which began in 2022.
This support for imperialism, even if counter to Euro-America imperialism, still breaches mere pragmatism. If the DPRK was truly socialist and a proletarian dictatorship, there would be a clear contradiction between the DPRK and Russo-Chinese bourgeois states. We, on the contrary, must unconditionally oppose the American imperialist military base which represents the "Republic of Korea" (South Korea) regime. Likewise, we understand that the Korean War, or Fatherland Liberation War of 1950–1953 was a revolutionary and anti-imperialist conflict between socialist and capitalist states.
Conclusion
The Juche Idea and Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism represent bourgeois nationalist, if not ultranationalist, deviations from Marxism and dialectical materialism. Juche is anti-materialist, idealist, chauvinist, and class collaborationist, to the extent of openly rejecting Marxism itself under the false banner of presenting itself as an "original idea".
The only state that adheres to Juche — and likely the only one that ever will — has consistently allied with social-imperialists and, in the present day, open imperialist states such as the Russian Federation.
To that end, the Juche Idea must be combated as we would with all other trends of modern revisionism.
References
1. Imperialism and the Revolution, Enver Hoxha, 1978
2. On Nationalism, Kim Jong Il, 2008
3. The Workers’ Party of Korea and Revisionism, Bill Bland, 1999
4. On the Juche Idea, Kim Jong Il, 1982
5. korea-dpr.com — Guiding Ideology
6. The Juche Philosophy is an Original Revolutionary Philosophy, Kim Jong Il, 1996
7. 10 Principles for the Establishment of the Monolithic Leadership System of the Party, 2013
8. White Power and apocalyptic cults: Pro-DPRK Americans revealed, Nate Thayer, 2013