Refutation of "Leftist ' Critics of Juche - special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

                                                                   

People's Korea and the Juche idea are incessantly demonised . The propaganda against People's Korea is on an industrial scale and is all pervasive and permeates everywhere ,even the Left . The Juche Idea is not only attacked by the right and the mainstream media but over the years some on the Left have attacked or critcised Juche raising various objections such as  'it rejects Marxism-Leninism ' to give one common example . Of course some may say to get attacked by both the Right and the Left means that you must be doing something right ,I do not necessarily wholehearted agree with this opinion but it is a fact that guided by Juche  People's Korea has avoided Right and Leftist deviations in the building of socialism and built a popular,independent and durable socialism , Juche socialism .I think it needs to be pointed out the Left in the imperialist countries has yet to led a  successful revolution and achieve state power , to put it mildly they need to be lot less dismissive about People's Korea , its experience and ideology . In the past some of the Left worshipped the former USSR. Today some Leftists worship China and also the non socialist Russian Federation , they are enthusiastic about Cuba and Venezuela , sometimes Syria but when it comes to People's Korea , they have a grudging attitude . They will pick up a book from the DPRK , flick it up and say ' Oh they cannot say ' , 'this is not Marxism-Leninism ' . The great irony is that a few of them were around in the days of the old USSR and swallow whatever the USSR said , every sellout , compromise , capitulation by the revisionist USSR was accepted by them: ' oh no comrade , the USSR is a big country , whatever it does must be right ' they would say if you challenge some of the thing the USSR did .
 To give a recent example my attention was drawn to an article on Reddit ' Thoughts about Juche and Marxism-Leninism' which tends to typify 'leftist ' criticism of Juche . Unlike some of the critics of Juche the author had actually read a book about Juche  in case , "Juche Idea: Answers to Hundred Questions'. However regrettably the author of the article does not appear to have got beyond  question 10 on pages 5 to 10 of the booklet . Not very impressive to say the least that the author is making a judgement without reading the whole booklet . The author concludes that  he or she ' can't seriously go on more reading the book.' This betrays a very ignorant and closed minded attitude. The author complains that  'Because we all know man cannot do revolution. There has to be a revolutionary condition. But that's not all. There should be raised consciousness and mass mobilisation, albeit actively pursued by a vanguard party with connection to the masses.' Had he or she finished the book  they would have seen that the role of the vanguard party and leader is stressed , for example the answer to Question 43 states that  ' Only under the correct leadership of a party and leader can they be the independent driving force of history who shapes history and their destiny independently and creatively.'  but our critic did not bother to read that far.
  Some of the criticisms that the Reddit author level at the Juche idea seem strange and nonsensical for example 'Man is not master of everything. It's not man, but labour is the master of everything'. How can labour be master of everything ? Labour only exists when man exists , there is no labour without man , it is just an extension of man's will and does not exist independently of man . It is a bit like those at the other end of the political who speak of ' The market ' as if was a natural force or a natural law when in fact it is something constructed by man .
   The author also claims that  '  I don't think Man wants to live free from natural restriction' ? Throughout the existence of humanity , man has always wanted to live free natural restrictions and indeed has overcome many natural restrictions over the past centuries . Is the author really saying they we do not want to live free from all kinds of restrictions imposed by nature ?  If you took what the author sees quite literally you would go to bed when the sun set and wake up when the sun rises , you would not try to stay up late at night nor wake up early in the morning by means of an alarm clock Some do not like the idea of mastery over nature and say that we should 'live in harmony in nature ' but surely harmony presupposes both some form of equality ,However man and nature are not equal and there are also two different things.
  Man is the most highly developed form of matter on the planet and therefore the centre of change and development . Man lives not by adapting himself to the environment but by actively changing the environment and harnessing the forces of nature for his benefit .
                                           

   At a general the objection of the Reddit author and many others , is that Juche 'departs from Marxism-Leninism ' . If Marx  was alive today he would be impressed by the amount of people who uphold his theories because of the scientific accuracy of the critique of capitalism but at the same time he would be horrified , mortified by the fact that some people have transformed his ideas into something like the bible , a tablet of stone  which is then to attack new theories . In the days when Marx and Engels were alive  there was not a single socialist country in the world , powered flight was not yet possible though was talked about , space travel did not exist and antibiotics did not exist . There have been big changes since those days .
   In People's Korea socialism had to be built through not only struggle against imperialism and class enemies but against a hidden internal enemy , dogmatists and factionalists . These people would argue against different policies of the Worker's Party of Korea  either saying that  such and such policy was not in the classics of Marxism -Leninism or that it had not been done in a big country . Such elements claimed to be pure Marxists , purer than pure but in fact their approach was actually extremely reactionary and counter-revolutionary , for example opposing collectivisation . Ironically these arguments that were shattered decades ago in People's Korea  still echo among some on the Left today .
                                         

  Whilst being aware of the historical limitations of classic Marxist Leninist theory , People's Korea strongly respects the great achievements of the founders of Marxism -Leninism  as the great leader
comrade KIM JONG IL said " Our Party and people respect Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin as the leaders of the working class and speak highly of their distinguished service'. Moreover People's Korea is one of the few countries in the world where you can take a university course in Marxism-Leninism and dialectical materialism.
 I hope that this little essay is of use to Juche idea followers and that also those "Leftist' critics of Juche will take a more positive and supportive attitude towards Juche in the future.

Dr Dermot Hudson
Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea

http://juche007-anglo-peopleskoreafriendship.blogspot.com/2014/04/juche-idea-answers-to-hundred-questions.html

https://juche007-anglo-peopleskoreafriendship.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-really-is-juche-in-answer-to-daily.html