The Way of Establishing Juche in Ideology

In order to establish Juche in ideology, it is important to arm oneself with independent ideological consciousness and policy of one’s party.

The independent ideological consciousness is the awareness of the master of one’s destiny and is the will to shape the destiny by oneself.

This awareness is the understanding that one is the being that controls one’s destiny. In other words, one’s destiny is not controlled by “God”, “king”, or other external factors but by oneself.

The will to shape one’s destiny by oneself is the preparedness and determination to shape one’s destiny by oneself. In other words, it is the indomitable revolutionary spirit to shape one’s destiny not by depending on others but by one’s own strength.

Therefore, the independent ideological consciousness enables one to have standpoint and attitude of having the consciousness that one is the master of the revolution and construction, thinking and doing everything, centering on the revolution in one’s own country, and acquiring the viewpoint and attitude of solving all questions by one’s own talents and initiative.

Herein lies the reason why it is necessary to arm oneself with independent ideological consciousness, in order to establish Juche in ideology.

In order to establish Juche in ideology, it is necessary to arm with independent ideological consciousness that reflects independent demand and interests of the people as well as with policy of one’s revolutionary party.

The independent ideological consciousness is embodied into lines and policies of the revolutionary party to provide guideline for the revolution and construction. When one arms oneself with policies of one’s revolutionary party and keep them as criteria of thinking and practice, one can conduct the revolution and construction according to specific situation of one’s country and fulfill the role as master of the revolution and construction.

What is also important in establishing Juche in ideology is to be well versed in one’s own things.

General Secretary Kim Jong Il said:

“If one is to establish Juche in thinking, one must be well versed in one’s own things.”

This means one knows the things of one’s country well. It can be easily understood through historical fact of how long-standing flunkeyism, dogmatism, and national nihilism were eliminated in the DPRK.

After the war, in the DPRK flunkeyists and dogmatists who crept into ideological affairs field of the party fell to national nihilism of thinking one’s own things are all bad and others’ ones are all good, turning their faces away from the reality and not recognizing Korean history, culture and revolutionary traditions.

Eventually, they hung pictures depicting other country’s scenery instead of theirs, and photos of other country’s heroes instead of their heroes. Another example is that when they had pamphlets printed, they imitated other country to put contents in the back of the book against the taste of the Korean people.

When they heard a new invention made by foreign country, they said, “The foreigners have good brains,” but when Koreans invented something, they doubted, saying, “Is it true?” This was inevitable result born by flunkeyism, dogmatism and national nihilism.

President Kim Il Sung published classic work “On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work” in December, 1955 to reveal nature and harmfulness of the flunkeyist and dogmatist tricks committed by anti-party and counterrevolutionary factionalists in the field of ideological work of the party.

In the work, he mentioned that the Korean revolution is the Juche in ideological work of the party, accordingly the party’s ideological work should be oriented to making the party members and working people have standpoint and attitude of having the consciousness that they are masters of the Korean revolution, thinking and doing everything, centering on the revolution in their own country, and solving all questions by their own talents and initiative, and for this end they should be well versed in their own things such as the policies of the party, brilliant revolutionary traditions, history of the people’s struggle and life custom.

As a result, a heavy blow was dealt to dogmatists and flunkeyists who imitated others like parrots and measured the new original policies of the party according to Marxist-Leninist classics, a blow was given also to big powers that tried to impose their wrong “policies” and to the anti-party revisionists who tried to accept them. Since then, fundamental changes have been made in the thinking methods of the people.

To know one’s things well does not mean to be ignorant about foreign things.

It is necessary to know the things of other countries in order to make the revolution and construction. This is to make one’s revolution and construction better. It is useless and harmful that one does not know one’s own things, however well he knows foreign things.

It is therefore important for all countries to know their own history, geography, economy, culture, custom, in particular policies, revolutionary history and traditions of their revolutionary parties.

In order to establish Juche in ideology, it is necessary to have national self-respect and revolutionary pride.

National self-respect and revolutionary pride are pride that one’s nation is not inferior to others and noble ideological sentiment of respecting national dignity.

Without these pride and self-respect, it is impossible to live independently nor defend national independence nor win in the revolutionary struggle.

National self-respect and pride are as valuable as life for the nation, so they are symbol of dignity and honor of a nation.

As the man without independence cannot have life as a social being, so the nation without national self-respect and pride is the same as the dead nation.

The people with national self-respect and pride do not tolerate humiliation of other nation and defend national dignity and honor, keeping revolutionary principle and adding glory to the nation.

That is to say, when one has national self-respect and revolutionary pride, one can establish Juche in ideology.

“I am a Korean.”

This statement feels very dignified for Koreans today.

Today, the Korean people feel proud of living in Juche Korea where they live in most superior socialist system, having President Kim Il Sung who is eternal in the hearts of the world people and General Secretary Kim Jong Il, the outstanding leader under the leadership of the great party, with the great Juche idea as the guiding ideology.

What is also important in establishing Juche in ideology is to develop national culture and enhance cultural and technical level of the people.

To develop national culture means to build the culture that carries progressive and revolutionary contents in national form and the culture that suits to the taste of one’s people and reflects people’s demand for independence.

In order to develop national culture, it is necessary to check the cultural infiltration of the imperialists.

Today, the imperialists try to stamp national character of other countries, spreading decadent culture and Western way of life in various cunning ways under the signboard of “globalization.”

If this cultural infiltration is not checked, the people become sick ideologically and spiritually, eventually being contaminated by reactionary and decadent ideology and culture that go against national independent consciousness. Therefore, to check cultural infiltration is the necessary demand to establish Juche in ideology against the infiltration of decadent ideology and culture.

In order to develop national culture, it is also important to repudiate restorationism and nihilism.

Restorationism is the tendency to restore the past blindly whereas nihilism is the tendency to negate the past.

Restorationism and nihilism hamper the development of excellent tradition of national culture.

To develop national culture, it is necessary to inherit and develop national cultural heritage. But it has the popular, the progressive, the old and the backward, and the reactionary. Restorationism enables to revive the reactionary, the old and the backward among the past cultural heritage, and nihilism hampers the continuation of the popular and the progressive.

So, it is necessary to repudiate both and inherit and develop what is suitable to present requirement.

It is also important to critically introduce foreign culture in conformity with the interests of the people.

It is also important to develop science and technology and enhance the level of culture and technology.

Backward and poor people look upon others. In the past many countries including Korea had flunkeyism and national nihilism. That is because they had backward science and technology and low level of culture and technique.

In Korea, the feudal rulers idled away reciting poems, drinking and riding donkeys and thus failed to develop science and technology. In the 18th century, other countries made industrial revolution and produced trains, airplanes and warships but Korea had smith that forged only hoes and sickles. That is why its dignity fell down and flunkeyism was born, eventually being deprived by the Japanese imperialists.

In that dark period, a Korean patriot lamented, saying:

“Oh, Korea, are you dead or alive. Why do you not breathe and eat properly? Why are you not so strong as others?”

It is therefore necessary to develop science and technology rapidly and enhance the people’s level of culture and technique without forgetting the historical lessons.

In order to establish Juche in ideology, it is also important to fight against flunkeyism and all other old ideas.

To establish Juche in ideology is ideological emancipation to liberate the people from the fetters of the old ideas and ideological revolution to set up Juche-oriented thinking method and attitude.

In order to establish Juche in ideology, it is necessary to repudiate old ideas in particular flunkeyism.

That is because flunkeyism is the biggest obstacle in establishing Juche in ideology.

Flunkeyism is submissive idea and national nihilism.

Flunkeyism makes one follow others without independent thinking to judge what is right and wrong, dancing to the tune of others.

President Kim Il Sung said if a man follows flunkeyism then he becomes foolish, if a nation is submissive then it is ruined, and if a party is flunkeyist then it brings mess to the revolution and construction.

It is therefore important to root out flunkeyism and establish Juche in ideology, remembering the bitter historical lessons.

Juche in ideology–this is the correct way to transform the sector of ideological and spiritual life according to the people’s demand for independence and train them into patriots and revolutionaries loyal to the revolution by liberating them from the fetters of the old ideas that undermine national independent consciousness.