KIM JONG IL
THE JUCHE
PHILOSOPHY IS AN ORIGINAL REVOLUTIONARY
PHILOSOPHY
Discourse Published in Kulloja, Theoretical Magazine of the Central Committee of
the Worker’s Party
of Korea
July 26, 1996
An
opinion has recently been raised that some of
our social scientists had expressed a wrong
view contrary to our Party’s idea in
explaining the Juche philosophy, that this
view had been disseminated abroad as well.
These social scientists still attempt to
explain the basic principles of the Juche
philosophy from the point of view of the
general law of the development of the material
world, instead of explaining them in the
direction of clarifying the law of social
movement. The proponents of this view say
that their argument is aimed at proving that
the Juche philosophy is a new development also
of Marxist materialistic dialectics. In
explaining and propagating the Juche
philosophy we do not need to convince people
that the Juche philosophy is a new development
of Marxist materialistic dialectics. It is
true that our Party has not taken a dogmatic
approach to Marxist materialistic dialectics
but analysed it from the point of view of
Juche and has given new explanations to a
number of problems. However, some development
of materialism and dialectics does not
constitute the basic content of the Juche
philosophy.
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
Marxist philosophy raised the relationship
between material and consciousness, between
being and thinking, as the fundamental
question of philosophy and proved the primacy
of material, the primacy of being and, on this
basis, elucidated that the world is made of
material and changed and developed by the
motion of material. The Juche philosophy has
raised the relationship between the world and
man, and man’s position and role in the world,
as the fundamental question of philosophy,
clarified the philosophical principle that man
is the master of everything and that he
decides everything and, on this basis,
illuminated the absolutely correct way of
shaping man’s destiny. The Marxist philosophy
raised as its major task 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. Therefore, 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 by the Marxist philosophy. You
cannot explain the Juche philosophy in the
framework of the preceding philosophy because
it is a philosophy that has clarified new
philosophical principles. If you attempt to
do so, you will not only fail to prove the
originality of the Juche philosophy, but
instead make it obscure and fail to understand
the essence of Juche philosophy correctly.
Having defined the essential qualities of man
for the first time in history, the Juche
philosophy has held up man as the best
qualified and most powerful being in the world
and advanced a new idea on the world that the
world is dominated and transformed by man.
The
new outlook on the world established by the
Juche philosophy does not deny the world
outlook of dialectical materialism. The Juche
philosophy regards the world outlook of
dialectical materialism as its premise. The
Juche view of the world that the world is
dominated and transformed by man is
inconceivable separately from the
materialistic dialectical understanding of the
essence of the objective material world and
the general law of its motion. From the
idealistic view that the world is something
mysterious you cannot 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. The Juche view of the world that the
world is dominated and transformed by man can
only be established when the materialistic
dialectical understanding of the world that
the world is made of material and ceaselessly
changes and develops is recognized. In spite
of a number of limitations and immaturities of
the Marxist materialistic dialectics, its
basic principles are scientific and valid.
That is why we say that the Juche philosophy
regards materialistic dialectics as its
premise.
That
the world outlook of the materialistic
dialectics is the premise for the Juche
philosophy does not mean that the Juche
philosophy has merely inherited and developed
the materialistic dialectical understanding of
the objective 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 the 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.
By
establishing the Juche outlook on social
history, the Juche view of history, on the
basis of the man-centered philosophical
principle, the Juche philosophy has overcome
the limitations of the preceding
socio-historical view and effected a radical
change in the socio-historical view and
standpoint.
Marxist philosophy established
socio-historical view of dialectical
materialism, historical materialism, through
the application of the general law of the
development of the material world to social
history. Of course, we do not deny the
historic merit of historical materialism.
Historical materialism made an important
contribution to defeating the reactionary and
unscientific socio-historical view which was
based on idealism and metaphysics. In
addition, since man lies in the objective
material world and society is inseparably
linked with nature, the general law of the
development of the material world acts on
social phenomena. However, if you overlook
the social movement being governed by its own
law and apply the general law of the
development of the material world mechanically
to social phenomena, you cannot avoid
acquiring one-sided understanding of social
history.
The
social movement changes and develops according
to its own law.
The
social movement is the movement of man who
dominates and transforms the world, man
transforms nature to dominate and transform
the objective material world. By transforming
nature man creates material wealth and
material conditions for his life.
Transforming nature and creating material
wealth is the endeavour to satisfy people’s
social cooperation. People transform society
to improve and perfect the relations of social
cooperation. It is man who transforms both
nature and society. While transforming nature
and society, man transforms and develops
himself continuously. The domination and
transformation of the world by man are
realized after all through the transformation
of nature, society and himself, and the
popular masses are the motive force of this
undertaking. The popular masses create all the
material and cultural wealth of society and
develop social relations.
The
social movement, the driving force of which is
the popular masses, has characteristics which
are different from those of the motion of
nature. 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 driving force.
Therefore,
if you apply the principles of materialistic
dialectics which explain the general law of
the development of the material world
mechanically to social history, you cannot
clarify correctly the essence of society and
the law of social movement. 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 the
social movement in that both of them are the
motion of material.
Marxist materialistic conception of history
broke down society into social being and
consciousness and attached determining
significance to social being; it also broke
down the social structure into productive
force and production relations, foundation and
superstructure, and attached decisive
significance to material production and
economic relations. This means an unaltered
application of the principle of materialistic
dialectics to society, the principle that the
world is of material and changes and develops
in accordance with the general law of the
motion of material. The world, viewed by the
founders of Marxism when applying the general
law governing the material world to social
history, is an integrity of not only nature
but also man and society in that they are
material beings. If you consider man as a
part of the world, a material integrity, not
as a social being with independence,
creativity and consciousness, and apply the
general law of the movement of the material
world to social history, you cannot avoid
seeing the socio-historical movement as a
process of the history of nature.
Of
course, society, too, changes and develops in
accordance with a certain law, not by man’s
will. But the action of law in society is
fundamentally different from that of the law
of nature. In nature the law works
spontaneously regardless of man’s activity,
but in society the law works through man’s
independent, creative and conscious
activities. Some of the laws of society
governs every society in general irrespective
of social systems, and some of them governs a
particular society. Because all the social
laws work through man’s activity, they may
work smoothly or their actions may be
restrained or limited depending on man’s
activity.
When
I say that social laws function through man’s
activity, I do not deny the objective
character of social laws and possible
spontaneity in the social movement. If a
certain socio-economic condition is created, a
social law corresponding to it functions
inevitably and therefore it assumes an
objective character as a natural law does.
Spontaneity in the social movement is due to a
relatively low level of man’s independence,
creativity and consciousness and to the
absence of the social system under which
people can display them to the full. With the
growth in man’s independence, creativity and
consciousness and with the establishment of
the social system which ensures a full display
of these qualities, man will work better in
keeping with the objective laws and the range
of spontaneity will narrow. Social
development is the process of the development
of the masses’ independence, creativity and
consciousness. With the growth in these
qualities and with the consummation of the
social system capable of meeting their
requirements, the society will develop more
and more through the purposeful and conscious
activities of the popular masses. This means
that the law peculiar to the social movement,
which changes and develops by the volitional
action and role of the driving force, will
work on a full scale.
Although the founders of Marxism established
the materialistic dialectical concept of
social history by applying the general law of
the development of the material world to
social history, they themselves came across
many problems in the practical social
movement, problems which could not be resolved
only by the general law of the development of
the material world. So they attempted to
overcome the one-sidedness of the
materialistic dialectical concept of social
history by advancing some theories, for
example, that although social consciousness
emerges as the reflection of the material and
economic conditions, it reacts on these
conditions and that although politics is
defined by the economy, it reacts on the
economy. However, the Marxist materialistic
concept of history is, in essence, a view on
social history which considers the common
character of the motion of nature and the
social movement as the main factor. This
theory was unable to avoid the limitation of
identifying the process of social development
with that of natural history.
The
fundamental difference between the Juche
philosophy and the preceding philosophy
results, in the final analysis, from a
different understanding of man.
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. The
preceding theory explained the principle of
the social movement mainly on the basis of the
general law of the development of the material
world, because it failed to clarify the
essential qualities of social man. For the
first time, the Juche philosophy gave a
perfect elucidation of the unique qualities of
man as a social being.
As
clarified in the documents of our Party, man
is a social being with independence,
creativity and consciousness and nobody has
expressed doubt about it. However, some
social scientists maintain a wrong view in
understanding how man became a social being
with these qualities. Regarding the question
of man’s essential characteristics as the
issue of the level of his development as a
material being, they still assert that the
origin of man; independence, creativity and
consciousness should be sought in the
diversity of the material components and the
complexity of their combination and structure.
This is, in fact, a view regarding man’s
essential qualities as the extension of
natural and biological attributes, as their
development and consummation. When talking
about man as an organism, one can consider him
in comparison with other organisms, or discuss
the characteristics of his biological
components and their combination and
structure. However, the man who is deliberated
by the Juche philosophy is not only a highly
developed organism but also lives and works
with independence, creativity and
consciousness which no other creatures have
acquired. The origin of man’s essential
qualities must be sought not in the
development of his features common with those
of other material beings but in the
characteristics unique to him. Man has
acquired independence, creativity and
consciousness, because he is a social being
who forms a social collective and lives and
works in a social relationship. These
qualities of man are social attributes which
are formed and developed through the
socio-historical process of his working in the
social relationship. Of course, these
qualities of his would be inconceivable
without his highly developed organic body, man
can be said to be the highest product of
evolution and the most developed material
being. However, if man had not formed a
social collective and had not lived and worked
in the social relationship, he could not have
developed as an independent, creative and
conscious being no matter how developed his
organic body may be. Without physical life man
cannot have social and political integrity.
However, it is not man’s physical life itself
that gives birth to his social and political
integrity. Likewise, without his developed
organic body his independence, creativity and
consciousness would be inconceivable, but his
biological characteristics themselves do not
produce his social attributes. Man’s social
attributes can take shape and develop only
through the process of his emergence and
development as a social being, in other words,
through the process of the historical
development of his social activity and his
social relationship. The history of social
development is the history of development of
man’s independence, creativity and
consciousness. This means that man’
independence, creativity and consciousness are
social attributes which are formed and
developed socially and historically.
Therefore, the philosophical consideration of
man must start from the fact that man is a
social being.
Nevertheless, some of our social scientists
argue about the material components and their
combination and structure, and relate them to
man’s essential qualities, preaching that the
biological factors constitute the major
content of the Juche philosophy. Their
argument is a deviation that explains the
Juche philosophy within the framework of
Marxist dialectical materialism. It is only
an attempt to justify the wrong evolutionary
view which regards man’s essential qualities
as the development and consummation of
biological attributes.
Regarding man’s essential qualities, it is
important to have a correct understanding of
the social being. The founders of Marxism,
while raising the question of man’s essence in
social relationship, used the phrase social
being as a concept meaning the material
conditions and economic relations of social
life which exist objectively and are reflected
on social consciousness. Since they regarded
man as a component of productive forces, as
the ensemble of social relations, the phrase
social being they used implied man as well.
However, they did not use it as one having the
particular meaning that defines man’s
essential qualities.
Systematizing the Juche philosophy, we used
the term social being as one having the
particular meaning that defines man’s
essential qualities. In the theory of the
Juche philosophy man is the only social being
in the world. Some social scientists,
however, still insist that social wealth and
social relations should also be included in
the social being, obscuring the difference
between man and social wealth and social
relations. Social wealth and social relations
are created and developed by man. Therefore,
they cannot be included together in the
concept that defines man’s essential
qualities. When referring to the Marxist
philosophy, the phrase social being can, of
course, be used as the founders of Marxism
meant. But, if we understand the term social
being in its conventional meaning when
referring to the Juche philosophy, it will
result in obscuring their understanding of
man’s essential qualities. The Juche
philosophy is a new philosophy which has its
own system and content, so its categories must
not be understood in the conventional meaning.
One
of the main reasons why these social
scientists have committed a deviation in
explaining and propagating the Juche
philosophy is that they have not studied
philosophical problems from the point of view
of the requirement of revolutionary practice.
Theory must be based on practice and serve
practice. A theory divorced from practice
cannot correctly elucidate truth and is of no
use.
The
great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung
always studied philosophical problems
proceeding from the demand of revolutionary
practice and evolved the Juche philosophy in
the course of giving scientific answers to
urgent ideological and theoretical problems
arising in revolutionary practice. Our Party
has generalized the rich and profound
experiences of revolutionary practice,
systematized the Juche philosophy in a
comprehensive way and developed it in depth.
Revolutionary practice is a struggle to
realize independence for the popular masses
and it is the masses who carry out the
struggle.
Therefore,
it is important in the study of philosophy to
reflect the demands and aspirations of the
popular masses correctly, evolve the theory by
generalizing their experiences of struggle and
make it the theory of the popular masses
themselves. In the exploitative society the
reactionary ruling class makes use of
philosophy for defending and rationalizing
their reactionary ruling system, trying to
make it the monopoly of the philosophers who
act as spokesmen in their interests. They
consider the popular masses to be ignorant
people who have nothing to do with philosophy.
With
a viewpoint and attitude that the popular
masses are the masters of everything and the
wisest people, our Party has evolved the Juche
philosophy by reflecting their demand and
aspirations and generalizing their struggle
experiences, further developed it in depth and
made it their weapon of struggle. This is the
reason why the Juche philosophy is an absolute
truth which meets the people’s desire for and
aspirations to independence and a popular
philosophy which the masses easily understand
and regard as their own weapon of struggle.
However, some of the social scientists are
arguing about the questions which are of
little practical significance in illuminating
the road of shaping the destiny of the popular
masses. We study philosophy essentially for
the purpose of clarifying the principles and
methodology by which to develop the society
and shape the destiny of the popular masses.
The development of society is guided by
politics and it is none other than the Juche
philosophy which clarifies the basic
principles of politics which lead social
development in the most straight way. In this
sense, the Juche philosophy can be called a
political philosophy.
Some
social scientists say that they have explained
the Juche philosophy as a philosophy which
developed the dialectical materialism of
Marxism in order to present the Juche idea to
suit the characteristic of the external
world. We must give a clear understanding of
the Juche philosophy as a new revolutionary
philosophy, not as a mere development of the
preceding philosophy. It is a mistake to
explain the Juche philosophy within the
framework of the preceding philosophy on the
grounds that it is presented to suit the
characteristic of the external world or to
disseminate the Juche philosophy with ideas
which do not accord with the fundamental
principle of the Juche philosophy. Moreover,
why should we argue about questions which are
of no political importance and hardly of any
theoretical practical significance, shutting
eyes to the demand of reality in the
international arena, when internationally we
have many theoretical and practical questions
which urgently await correct answers to be
given on the basis of the principles of the
Juche philosophy? In presenting the Juche
idea to the external world, we must explain
correctly in relation to actual problems that
the Juche philosophy is thoroughly an original
philosophy and a new revolutionary philosophy.
We must get rid of such a deviation not only
in external dissemination but also in the
research, study and education on the Juche
philosophy.
The
Juche philosophy is a revolutionary philosophy
and political philosophy of our Party which
illuminates the philosophical basis of the
Juche idea and fundamental principles of the
revolution. How to approach the Juche
philosophy does not merely concern
philosophical theories, but is related to the
viewpoint and attitude towards the Party’s
ideology. We must accept the Party’s ideology
as the absolute truth, defend it resolutely
and keep it as a revolutionary conviction, and
thus understand, interpret and propagate the
Juche philosophy correctly.
We
must feel a great pride and confidence in
having such a great political philosophy as
the Juche philosophy, deeply understand its
principles and apply them fully to the
practical activities of the revolution and
construction. We must analyse and judge all
the social phenomena thoroughly on the basis
of the principles of the Juche philosophy and
dynamically accelerate the revolution and
construction by uniting the popular masses
solidly around the Party and enhancing the
role of the motive force as the Juche
philosophy requires.
Our
scientists and people must study and follow
the Juche philosophy, but they must also know
the philosophical ideas of Marxism-Leninism.
The social scientists in particular must be
well acquainted with the preceding philosophy,
it is important to distinguish limitations and
immaturity of the preceding philosophy along
with its merits.
In
addition, we must strictly guard against all
heterogeneous trends of philosophy which are
contrary to the Juche philosophy and ensure
the purity of the Juche philosophy. The Juche
philosophy is the most advantageous and viable
philosophy which reflects the demand of the
revolutionary practice and the truthfulness
and validity of which have been proved by
revolutionary practice. The fact that the
Juche philosophy is attracting more attention
on the international arena and the followers
of the Juche idea are increasing in number
clearly demonstrates that the Juche philosophy
gives absolutely correct answers to the
questions of revolutionary practice. Our
social scientists must have an unshakable
conviction of the scientific accuracy,
truthfulness, originality and superiority of
the Juche philosophy and analyse and judge all
the philosophical theories with the Juche
philosophy as a guideline, thus preventing
infiltration of any heterogeneous trend of
philosophy into the Juche philosophy.
All
the social scientists must study the Juche
philosophy in depth and breadth and propagate
it in line with the Party’s intention and, by
doing so, exalt its greatness and further
increase its attraction.