It can be said that while the Juche Idea is a distinct revolutionary ideology from the orthodox Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union. It does not deny the revolutionary truth of Marxism, so much as the Juche Idea expands it to include new laws and principles of social development.
For Context, the Juche Idea is the official guiding ideology of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the vanguard party of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). It was first formulated by the DPRK’s national founder and only president, Kim Il Sung (whose name is bolded in accordance with typical DPRK stylistic choices); and it was further developed by his son, WPK General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
As Kim Jong Il writes an article for the WPK’s theoretical magazine, Kulloja:
“The new outlook on the world established by Juche philosophy does not deny the world outlook on dialectical materialism. The Juche philosophy regards the world outlook of dialectical materialism as its premise.”
Put simply, dialectical materialism— the perspective that the world is guided by the movement and change of material things— is the foundation upon which the Juche idea lay. Like more traditional Marxist thought, the Juche idea posits that the world is first and foremost made of material things (i.e. things that exist), and these things are constantly and spontaneously changing through their relations and contradictions with other things.
These contradictions are “opposites” or other things that are contrary to or in resistance of the thing in question. There is a contradiction between fire and water, a contradiction between heat and frigidness, and a contradiction between labor and capital. Contradictions result in a struggle in which a new thing may be created as a result of the two contradictory things. This new things is a synthesis of the items in contradiction (the thesis and anti-thesis in typical dialectical philosophy). Water and fire make steam, but fire is is extinguished and the water is transformed. Heat and coldness annihilate each other into a new, average temperature, and labor and capital— as traditionally theorized— struggle for the controls of human society until the dominant force is no longer capital but labor in a new, socialist system. Such are the laws of Marxist dialectics and the typical law of the motion of these material things in the world.
The Juche idea accepts this as the natural law of the motion of material; however, Kim Jong Il argues that social movements and changes in social relations between people and their supersets (classes, nations, &c) have their own governing laws that are distinguishable from the natural law of the motion of material. He writes:
“In nature, motion takes place spontaneously through the interaction of material elements which exist objectively, whereas the social movement is caused and developed by the volitional action and role of [the masses of the people].”
The fundamental difference between the motion of natural material and social movements being that movements are driven by intentional and voluntary processes that people engage in as social beings.
Now at this point, it is necessary to pause and note what it means to be a “social being.” In Juche theory, to be a social being— to be human— is to have the essential qualities of independence, creativity, and consciousness— the independence to elevate one’s social standing and the social standing of one’s community without hindrance— the creativity to analyze situations and adapt ideas in a manner consistent with the extant conditions at your particular place and time— and a conscious understanding of said extant conditions through material action and experience.
These qualities of social being were acquired by human beings because we are— to again quote Kim Jong Il— “social being[s] who form a social collective and live and work in social relationship[s].” It is not simply that our bodies are simply highly developed material things (which they are), but that we as human beings also have utilized our highly developed bodies to develop highly complex social relationships with each other. It is our relationships with each other that allow us to raise our social standing, creatively analyze ideas, and gain a conscious understanding from our collective experiences. As was written in Kulloja article previously mentioned:
“Man’s social attributes can take shape and develop only through the process of his emergence and development as a social being”
And it is because of this law of social development that he can go on to say that “[t]he history of social development is the history of development of man’s independence, creativity, and consciousness.”
With this new law of social development and the principle that human beings uniquely develop independence, creativity, and consciousness through relationships with each other, we can begin to apply this to our existing principles and practice of revolutionary action.
When analyzing with this lens, it becomes self-evident that a revolutionary must be integrate themselves into communities of the broad masses of the people such that one may understand their demands, generalize their experiences, and develop said generalizations as a weapon to be given to the broad masses to wield against their oppressors. One must take note of what activities of do and do not elevate the independence, creativity, and consciousness of the struggling community in which one is integrated.
What is lastly worth noting is that these principles are not fundamentally incompatible with Marxist-Leninist thought so much as they are an extension of it and may be applied with it. Because human beings are material things, they are effected by the natural transformation of the world through the laws and processes previously established. Human beings, however have the unique ability to transform both themselves and the world around them through their social attributes when in community with each other.
It is only through our ability to transform ourselves and our communities that revolutionary action may take place. Spontaneity is generally not preferred and carries out the risks of negative, unintended consequences. Given that, spontaneity is expectedly a result of the suppression of the social attributes of man by exploitative systems. Such systems (capitalism, imperialism, ...&c) thrive off of the alienation and division of the masses of the people, and as such dampen their social attributes. Systems must be set in place that showcase and reward the social ability of the people to creatively analyze their conditions, consciously understand their situation, and elevate themselves without hindrance.
Social cooperation and organization is the solution to the problems of the exploitative systems that we face in the current day. Such was predicted by comrade Kim Jong Il, and such remains true when organizations working cooperatively and— consciously or otherwise— operating by these principles score victories against the ruling anti-social classes in their communities.
