Our Socialism Centred on the Masses Shall Not Perish is a 1991 work by Kim Jong Il. It seeks to explain that socialism in North Korea will be unaffected by the fall of communism elsewhere because it is based on the Juche ideology.
 | |
| Author | Kim Jong Il |
|---|---|
| Subject | Socialism |
| Publisher | Foreign Languages Publishing House |
Publication date | 1991 |
| Publication place | North Korea |
Published in English | 1991 |
| Pages | 45 |
| OCLC | 869091366 |
| Our Socialism Centred on the Masses Shall Not Perish | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 인민대중중심의 우리 식 사회주의는 필승불패이다 |
|---|---|
| Hancha | 人民大衆中心의 우리 式 社會主義는 必勝不敗이다 |
| Revised Romanization | Inmindaejungjungsimui uri sik sahoejuuineun pilseungbulpaeida |
| McCune–Reischauer | Inmindaejungjungsimŭi uri sik sahoejuŭinŭn p'ilsŭngbulp'aeida |
Today the imperialists and reactionaries are working viciously to wipe out our socialism, but our socialism continues to advance boldly along the path it has taken, without being swayed in the least by the enemy's dastardly attacks and slander. ... The secret of its durability and indestructibility is that it is centred upon the masses, that it has made the masses the genuine masters of society and that it has devoted everything to the service of the masses.
Our Socialism Centred on the Masses Shall Not Perish[1]
History
editKim Jong Il gave the talk Our Socialism Centred on the Masses Shall Not Perish on May 5, 1991 to "senior officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea". The context of the speech was the then-ongoing processes of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, economic reform in China, and problems facing socialism in Cuba and North Korea. A few years later, in 1994, the premise of the speech that continuity of socialism in North Korea seems under jeopardy was further accentuated by the death of Kim Il-sung. Against this background, the speech was "a bold defiance of global historical trends".[2]
According to Kim, North Korea will not be affected by the fall of communism because North Korean socialism is of a different kind. This, Kim says, is because of its rootedness in the Juche ideology.[3] This makes it a more authentic, and thus more enduring, socialism.[2] Considered authoritative on Juche,[4] the work contains no reformulation of the ideology and instead restates what was by then a standard account of its contents.[3] Its treatment of the subject is, according to Daniel Kalder, highly solipsistic. The work makes little reference to things that stand outside the framework of the philosophical system of Juche.[3] According to Kalder, "practically every sentence contains a lie", like the assessment that North Korea has "the best of all social systems" that cherishes human life and guarantees human rights.[2]
Kalder describes the work as unoriginal, part of a repetitive, self-referential "superspeech" of North Korean propaganda texts that is continuously generated. In this respect, he compares it to the works of Joseph Stalin.[3] With Kim claiming to speak for "the masses" without actually giving them a voice of their own, Kalder sees a parallel with John Berger's social photo-essay A Seventh Man.[2]
Although at about 45 pages it is a relatively short treatise,[2] its prompt publication in a separate pamphlet form testifies that the speech is of importance to North Korea.[5] North Korea used the work to tighten its grip on the populace by claiming that the United States was pursuing regime change by collapsing socialist states from within.[6]
One theme of the work is multilateralism. It is one of the earliest works of Kim Jong Il that contains a discussion of it (dabangmyeonjeokin gyoryu, "multilateral exchange"). According to Kim, such exchanges are only possible with countries that consider North Korea their equal, have a friendly disposition, and can offer mutual benefits. This formulation has since become common in North Korean media. The message of multilateralism is particularly aimed at developing countries, especially those in Africa with which North Korea had already cooperated in the past.[7]
It has been published by the Foreign Languages Publishing House in English, Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.[8] An English reprint is also available by the University Press of the Pacific.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Kim 2006, pp. 36–37.
- ^ a b c d e f Kalder 2010.
- ^ a b c d Kalder 2019, p. 286.
- ^ Griffiths 2014, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Lee & Chung 1993, p. 95.
- ^ Diplomatic Bluebook 1992, p. 213.
- ^ Ouellette 2013, p. 158.
- ^ KPEA 2015, p. 36.
Works cited
edit- Diplomatic Bluebook: Japan's Diplomatic Activities. Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1992. OCLC 969788654.
- Griffiths, Edmund (2014). Towards a Science of Belief Systems. New York: Palgrave Mcmillan. doi:10.1057/9781137346377_4. ISBN 978-1-137-34637-7.
- Kalder, Daniel (December 7, 2010). "Dictator-lit: Kim Jong-il's political philosophy". the Guardian. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
- — (2019). Dictator Literature: A History of Bad Books by Terrible People. London: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1-78607-538-3.
- Kim, Jong-il (2006) [1991]. "Our Socialism Centred on the Masses Shall Not Perish" (PDF). Selected Works. Vol. 11. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. pp. 36–73. OCLC 651079919.
- "Korea Publications Exchange Association" (PDF). KPEA. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2018.
- Lee, Hong Yung; Chung, Chong-Wook (1993). Korean Options in a Changing International Order. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Korean Studies, University of California. ISBN 978-1-55729-040-3.
- Ouellette, Dean J. (2013). "North Korea's Perception of Multilateralism". Review of North Korean Studies 현대북한연구. 16 (3): 145–213. doi:10.17321/rnks.2013.16.3.004. eISSN 2713-6051.