Communism in North Korea Compared with Russia - Essay Example

?Communism in North Korea Compared with Russia I. Introduction In a book by V.I. Lenin published in 1950 and re-published by the Peking (Beijing) Foreign Languages Press in 1976, socialism has been described as a first stage of communism. In socialism, the rule is to each according to his work while in communism or the rule is “to each according to his needs, from each according to his ability.” Through the years, however, socialist regimes were confronted with various challenges to modify policies. In this work, we compare Russian Communism with Communism of North Korea during the supposed first stage of communism or socialism wherein states have not yet withered away. II. Russian Communism Under Article 1 of the Russian Constitution, Russia and Russian Federation are equivalent. Despite the association of Russian with undemocratic traditions, Article 2 of the 1993 Russian Constitution states that “the recognition, observance and protection and human and civil rights and freedoms shall be an obligation of the State.” Article 3 of the Russian Constitution states that “the people shall exercise its power directly, as well as through State government bodies and local bodies.” Further, Article 3 of the Russian Constitution also says that “the direct expression of the power of the people shall be referendum and free elections.” Article 29 of the Russian Constitution guarantees freedom of though and agitation but propaganda or agitation which arouses hostility and racial/national hatred are prohibited. Whether these are implemented, of course, is another thing. Article 30 of the Russian Constitution guarantees citizens of the right to association. Article 32 says that the citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to elect and elected to State bodies. Article 34 of the Russian Constitution says “everyone shall have the right to use freely his (her) abilities and property for entrepreneurial and other economic activity not prohibited by law.” Article 35 of the Russian Constitution says that the right to private property shall be protected by law. Section 4 under Article 35 of the Russian Constitution says that the right to inheritance shall be guaranteed. Given all these, it appears that Communism in Russia no longer exhibits the classical socialism reflected in the writings of Marx and Lenin. It seems that for many practical purposes, the evolution of the socialist state in Russia made the Russian Socialist or Communist State assume the characteristics of a capitalist or free market or competitive market state. It is highly that capitalism the competitive market system was restored in Russia. III. The Communism of North Korea North Korea describes her communism as founded on the so-called “immortal Juche Idea” developed by Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung started developing the Juche idea during the North Korean struggle against Japanese invasion in World War II (“Constitution of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea of 1998,” 3rd paragraph, Preface). The Juche Idea is the ideological foundation of North Korean communism and socialist ideals. North Korean communists consider that it is their task to remodel Korean society along the ideals of the Juche Idea founded by Kim Il Sung (Korean Friendship Association 1). In the view of North Korean communists, “only when one is firmly armed with the Juche Idea and advances under its banner, would it be possible to emerge victorious in revolution and construction, surmounting all difficulties and trials” (Korean Friendship Association 2). From the perspective or propaganda of North Korean communism among themselves, the Juche Idea is the conviction that the North Korean people has “acquired through the history of revolutionary struggle spanning over half a century” (Korean Friendship Association 2). Like other communist parties and movements, the Juche Idea adheres to Marxism-Leninism (Korean Friendship Association 2). In particular, the Juche Idea adheres to a typical communist notion that “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 destroy imperialist strongholds and achieve freedom and liberation” (Korean Friendship Association 3). North Korean communists believe or promoted an internal propaganda among themselves that Kim Il Sung “created the Juche idea after acquiring a deep insight into the requirements of a new era when the oppressed and humiliated masses of the people became master of their own destiny” (Korean Friendship Association 3). Essentially, however, there is nothing substantial in the Juche Idea that would constitute an attitudinal change to communism. At best, the Juche Idea embodies a set of principles that constitute a set of changes in the rhetoric of a communist movement. For example, instead of an emphasis on class struggle and class dictatorship, the rhetoric of Juche Idea emphasized on independence and about the masses making initiatives and creating initiatives for their liberation. Instead of an emphasis on Lenin and Stalin’s dialectical materialism or communist philosophy, however, it appears that the emphasis of Juche Idea was to give a humanist or humanitarian rhetoric to communism that appears to be in a sharp contrast with the tendency of the other communist rhetoric to emphasize on classes, class struggle, and class dictatorship of the proletariat. Further, the emphasis of the North Korean rhetoric captured in the Korean Friendship Association’s articulation of the Juche idea appear to emphasize more on the interests of the masses rather than on the interest of the proletariat. This is even clear in how North Korean communists define a revolution. According to an articulation of the Juche Idea by the Korean Friendship Association, “the revolution is struggle to meet the masses’ desire for independence by enlisting their strength” (Korean Friendship Association 4). Instead of an emphasis on proletarian victory, the emphasis of the Juche Idea is that when the masses “are armed with the revolutionary idea and united into an organized political force, the masses can emerge victorious in the revolution” (Korean Friendship Association 4). The Juche Idea also appears to criticize the non-Korean communists and socialists in the statement that “communists and nationalists who were allegedly engaged in the national-liberation movement in our country in the 1920s gave no thought to the need to go among the masses to educate, organize and arouse them into waging revolutionary struggle” (4). The Juche Idea as articulated the Korean Friendship Association also criticized that the communists and nationalists of the 1920s “gave not thought to the need to go among the masses to educate, organize, and arouse them into waging a revolutionary struggle” (4). These statements appear to be mere differences in rhetoric but not about real or fundamental differences of the North Korean communists from other communist countries or movements. Based on the articulation of the Korean Friendship Association, the Juche idea appear to romanticize the role of the masses by emphasizing that the masses are the master of revolution (4). Another important theme of Juche Idea seems to be the rejection of factionalism that has been described to be the main characteristic of the communist movement that was replaced by the communist movement in North Korea that was replaced by the communist movement that has been associated with the Juche Idea. An important articulation of the Juche Idea is that the “Juche Idea is based on the philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and decides everything” (Korean Friendship Association 7). Of course, this assertion does not tell anything substantial on the North Korean communist ideology. The assertion is more rhetoric than anything else. However, unlike Leninists from other countries who focused on the proletariat, the North Korean communists claim that “the philosophical principle of the Juche Idea is the principle of man-centered philosophy which explains man’s position and role in the world” (Korean Friendship Association 7). Again, as pointed out earlier, North Korean communist appears to stress humanitarianism rather than class antagonisms. Perhaps a better way of describing the North Korean communist ideology through the so-called Juche Idea is to enumerate the rhetoric that the communist North Koreans use in describing the Juche Idea as reflected in the description of the Korea Friendship association. According to the Korean Friendship Association, the Juche idea is characterized by the following philosophical principles: Independence is “the the life and soul of man” because independence mean his social and political integrity (8). Political life is what makes man alive as a biological organism and social and political integrity keep him alive as a social being (8). Creativity is a key characteristic of the social man who transforms the world and shapes his destiny (8). Independence, creativity, and consciousness are what which lead men to become superior to any other being (9). The Juche idea is a man’s centered perspective that focuses on the essential characteristics of man and his position in the world (9). Taking the Juche idea of a man-centered attitude towards the world means taking the viewpoint of man, the master of the world (10). The socio-political principles of the Juche idea are also incapable of differential differentiating the Juche idea from other philosophical principles because other non-communist ideas have them (Korean Friendship Association 11-27): The masses of people are the subject of history History is the history of people’s struggle for independence Social movements are creative movements of the popular masses People’s consciousness play a decisive role in revolutionary struggles The guiding principles of the Juche Idea are by no means useful to describing what North Korean Communists have in mind for North Korean communism (Korean Friendship Association 27-54): Independence must be maintained The creative method should be applied Ideology and ideological development should be prioritized over all things The Korea Friendship Association maintains that there are four sub-principles in independence. First, independence means that the ideology must be Juche (27). Second, independence means politics must also be independent (31). This follows because Juche in ideology implies independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy, self-reliance in defense, upholding national independence, and sovereignty of one (Economic Friendship Association 31). According to the Korean Friendship Association, there are at least two “significance” in the Juche Idea (54-76). Firstly, the Juche Idea is an advancement of dialectical materialism (Korean Friendship Association 55-56). As the most important victory of Marxist ideas was the defeat of idealism and metaphysics but the new age “demanded the evolvement of a new world outlook that would enable them to become masters of their destiny, shaping it in an independent and creative way, and to realize successfully the historic cause of national liberation, class emancipation and human freedom” (Korean Friendship Association 55). The second significance of the Juche Idea is that it is supposedly unique (55). However, nothing of the Juche Idea appears unique and all assertions that the idea is unique appear to be founded on misinformed or wrongly informed assumptions. Believers in the Juche Idea also asserted that “since the question of the world’s origin has been made clear by the materialistic viewpoint, the Juche idea raised a new problem concerning the position and the role of man in the world as the basic question of philosophy and gave an answer to the philosophical question of who is the master of the world,” at least as per the belief of advocates of the Juche Idea (Korean Friendship Association 55). Supposedly, according to the Korean Friendship Association, “the question on man had been discussed a great deal by preceding philosophies but was confined to an abstract views on man, to the exclusion of social relations” (56). According to the Korean Friendship Association, “the clarification by the Juche Idea of the philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and decides everything on the basis of the scientific explanation of man as a social being, was a philosophical discovery which brought about a new change in the world outlook” (56). In contrast, according to the Korean Friendship Association, “idealism leads to a mystical theory that the world and man’s destiny are controlled by the supernatural might while metaphysics leads to the fatalistic belief that everything in the world is immutable and, accordingly, man must be obedient to his predetermined destiny” (56). Claiming that the Juche Idea extends dialectical materialism, the Juche Idea is claimed to be “based on the premise of the materialistic and dialectical viewpoint which denies mysticism and fatalism” (Korean Friendship Association 56). According to the Korean Friendship Association, “even the materialists who in the past had regarded the world as a material object, to say nothing of the idealists who considered the world as a world of ideas or spirit, could not put forward the viewpoint and approach towards the world with the man at the center” (57). In contrast, “the Juche Idea defined man as the master who dominates the world, not merely as part of its, and thus established a new world outlook which unlike preceding ones, regards the world and it changes and progress with man, its master, at the center” (57). The Korean Friendship Association considers the Juche Ideas as “priceless ideological pabulum for genuine Juche revolutionaries to maintain their political integrity” (64). Despite the seeming lack of substance of the Juche philosophy/ideology, it seems to have adherents among “social scientists” as a convention of “social scientists” was supposedly held in 1982 to discuss the Juche ideology and confirm its standing as a distinct Marxist perspective. Further, there are adherents of the Juche Idea in Europe as indicated by the existence of a European website dedicated to the propagation of the Juche ideology. On 26 July 1996, Kim Jong Il confirm the North Korean Workers’ Party view of the Juche as an “original revolutionary philosophy” (Jong Il 1). Further, Jong Il clarified in 1996 that “Marxist philosophy raised as its major tasks the clarification of the essence of the material world and the general law of its motion, whereas the Juche philosophy has raised as its important task the elucidation of man’s essential characteristics and the law of social movement, man’s movement” (2). Further, the earlier or the 1982 emphasis of connection between Marxist-Leninist dialectical materialism has been rearticulated or re-expressed in 1996 in these terms, “the Juche philosophy is an original philosophy that is an original philosophy which is fundamentally different” from Marxism-Leninism “in its task and principles” (Jong Il 2). That is, according to Jong Il, “we should understand the Juche philosophy as a philosophy that has developed materialistic dialectic nor should we attempt to prove the originality and advantages of Juche philosophy by arguing one way or the other about the essence of the material world and general laws of its motion which were clarified by the Marxist philosophy” (2). Dong Il said that one “cannot explain the Juche philosophy in the framework of the preceding philosophy because it is a philosophy that has clarified new philosophical principles” (2). However, Dong Il also pointed out that “the new outlook of the world established by the Juche philosophy does not deny the world outlook of dialectical materialism” (2). Further, “the Juche philosophy regards the world outlook of dialectical materialism as its premise” (2). In other words, the Juche communists remain adherents of Marxism-Leninism. Dong Il implied that Marxism-Leninism has left a communist notion of the world as mysterious and a mysterious notion of the world will not enable one to “draw the conclusion that man dominates the world, and from the metaphysical view that the world is immutable you cannot infer that man can transform the world” (2). Dong Il elaborated that despite “a number of limitations and immaturities of Marxist materialistic dialectics, its basic principles are scientific and valid” (3). Dong Il, however, pointed out that “the major limitation of the materialistic conception of history is that it failed to correctly expound the peculiar law of the social movement and explained the principles of the social movement mainly on the basis of the common character of the motion of nature and social movement in both of them are the motion of material” (4). Dong Il also said that “the Marxist philosophy defined the essence of man as the ensemble of social relations, but it failed to correctly expound the characteristics of man as a social being” (6). For the Juche, man as a social being implies that man has acquired independence, creativity, and consciousness that set him apart and distinct from the material world and of animals. This implies that the Juche perspective advances a variant of Marxism that can be seen as less deterministic if not non-deterministic. Unfortunately, the seemingly positive attitude of North Korean communists on human capacities does not appear to be supported by its economic achievements. In 2008, Nanto and Chanlett-Avery described the North Korean economy as one of the most isolated and bleak (6). This is probably because of the North Korean communist emphasis on self-reliance that has been translated to economic autarky and isolationism. Nanto and Chanlett-Avery continued that North Korea “was completely by-passed by the Asian “economic miracles of the past three decades that brought modern economic growth and industrialization to South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and other ASEAN nations (6). Nanto and Chanlett-Avery described the North Korean economy as Stalinist “characterized by state ownership of the means of production; centralized economic planning, command, monitoring of political attitudes; and an emphasis on military development” (6). Consistent with the Kim Il Sung and Kim Dong Il description of Juche, “the economic system is designed to be self-reliant and closed” (6). Not surprisingly, Nanto and Chamlett-Avery pointed out that “the irony of the situation is that the longer the economy tries to remain self-sufficient, the poorer its performance and the more dependent the country becomes on the outside world just to survive” (6). About 15-25% of the North Korean gross domestic product is devoted to military spending (Nanto and Chamlett-Avery 10). During the 1990s, Nanto and Chamlett-Avery explained that “major portions of the North Korean population survived primarily through transfers of food and other economic assistance from abroad” (10). Bleaker still, “the worst of the food crisis has passed but shortages are still there, and the country depend on staples from China, South Korea, and when allowed, from the U.N. World Food Program to stave off mass starvation” (Nanto and Chamlett-Avery 10). The pressures on the North Korean economy are being translated to health. According to Nanto and Chamlett-Avery, North Koreans have shorter life expectancy and North Korean youths have shorter heights (10). There are other indicators of deteriorating social health in the Nanto and Chamlett-Avery report but these are no longer discussed to focus on the socialist or communist features of the North Korean economy; it is sufficient to say that despite the nice rhetoric of Juche, the North Korean population appear impoverished and perhaps it is Juche itself that is to blame, particularly with its overemphasis on self-reliance and independence. According to Article 19 of the North Korean Constitution, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “relies on the socialist production relations and on the foundation of an independent national economy.” Under Article 20 of the North Korean Constitution, “the means of production are owned only by the State and Social cooperative organizations.” If the word “only” in the previous sentence is accurate, this means that private enterprise is not recognized as a “means of production” and only state and cooperative organizations could legally own an enterprise in the North Korean economy. However, Article 24 of the North Korean Constitution says that “private property is confirmed to property meeting the simple and individual aims of the citizen.” This implies that private property is constitutionally allowed provided it is limited to “meeting the simple and individual aims of the citizens.” We do not know, however, whether interpretations of Article 24 across citizens in the various social strata are homogenous. It is also clear, however, that private property is recognized in “sideline activities” and “other legal economic activities” under the same article. Further, when the earlier contexts discussed, the State also guarantees the legal inheritance of the private properties under Article 24 of the North Korean Constitution. Article 21 of the North Korean Constitution also explicitly states that “the property of the State belongs to the entire people” and that “there is no limit to the property which the State can own.” Article 21 of the North Korean Constitution also say that “only the State possesses all the natural resources, railways, airports, transportation, communication organs and major factories, enterprises, ports and banks.” Meanwhile, Article 22 of the North Korean Constitution says that “the property of social cooperative organizations belong to the collective property of the working people within the organization concerned.” According to the same article, “social cooperative organizations can possess such property such as land, agricultural machinery, ships, medium-small sized factories and enterprises.” IV. Identifying Differences: North Korean versus Russian Communism Based on our discussion, the main differences between North Korean and Russian Communism are as follows. First, North Korean Communism has explicitly considered itself independent from the Marxist-Leninist ideology through the Juche idea while it is not clear whether Russian Communism has continued to adopt the Marxist-Leninist concepts of a state, socialist society, and communist ideology. Second, the North Korean economy appears to be closer to the traditional notion of a socialist state compared to Russia. Third, private enterprise and private property appears to be more restricted in North Korea compared to Russia. Fourth, North Korean communist ideology uses the Juche rather than Marxism-Leninism. North Korean Juche is basically socialist/communist ideology but with this twist: North Korean communist ideology has more rhetoric on humanism, independence, and humanity as the center of the Juche ideology. Fourth, North Korean communism or socialism appears to be more restrictive against private property while it does not seem to be case for Russian communism or socialist. Finally or fifth, unlike other communists, North Korean communism focuses on a claim to socialism that is more humanity centered. Unfortunately, however, it is currently the socialist or communist country with the greatest nuclear ambitions. V. Conclusion Based on the foregoing, it appears that the logical conclusion is that the North Korean Communism appears to be more dangerous type of communism with regard to the potential of this type of socialism or communism to restrict economic growth, promote autarky and international isolationism, and prolong or perpetuate underdevelopment and poverty. Work Cited “Constitution of the People’s Republic of Korea of 1998.” Web. 20 November 2011. . “Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993.” Web. 20 November 2011. . Korea Friendship Association. “On the Juche Idea.” Korean Friendship Association, 1982. Web. 20 November 2011. . Jong Il, Kim. “The Juche Philosophy is an Original Revolutionary Philosophy.” Pyongyang: Kulloja, 26 July 1996. Web. 20 November 2011. Haggard, Stephen and Marcus Noland. “The Political Economy of North Korea: Implications for Denuclearization and Proliferation.” East-West Center: Economic Series 104, June 2009. Lenin, V.I. The State and Revolution. Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1976. Web. 20 November 2011. Nanto, Dick and Emma Chanlett-Avery. “The North Korean Economy: Leverage and Policy Analysis.” Washington: Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, 26 August 2008. Read More