Admin’s note: does DPRK want communism?

In short, a communist society is a society in which the popular masses are guaranteed full independence

-Kim Jong Il in the volume 12 of his Selected Works

An interesting question must be raised: how does Juche idea envision a communist society?

We can categorize these in the two parts :

Politics

As Marx and Engels believe, DPRK plans the withering away of the state when it will be no more threatened by capitalist encirclement (like USSR, Albania or China).

This withering away is explained by Engels in Anti-Duhring as the replacement of "government of people" by the "administration of things" after State seizes all property in the name of society.

But DPRK asks the question: what is this administration of things? Is it a technocratic power, without any kind of political lines? No.

When an ideal society comes into being, the tendency to monopolize political power and politics will vanish forever on the basis of the complete socialization of the economy, culture and all other spheres of social life, and the overall socialization of political power and politics will be realized both in name and reality. The socialization of political power and politics in a future society means not that they wither away but that all the members of society become full-fledged masters of them. Only then will political power become fully the power of command of society and politics, the work of administering people in conformity with joint requirements and interests of society.

-Pak Yong Gon, in The World Outlook of Juche

What can we deduce from this quote? Simply that, by intense socialization of all aspects of society, the men will become managers of themselves and their common good (in short starting an ideological revolution). A communist being is someone who becomes a new human being, a genius in both manual and intellectual labor, capable of mastering himself and society, without use of a class dictatorship and a party exercising it.

Economics

The goal of a communist society, outside of continuing complete socialist society (all-people ownership, abolition of commodity production and money) is mostly production to each according to his needs. This is based on higher productivity and advancement of ideological Revolution.

The most important economic problem that must be solved in order to consolidate and develop a completely victorious socialist society and transition to communism is, above all, to create conditions for distribution based on demand.

We must accelerate the technological revolution and elevate production to a high scientific and technological level. To this end, production processes must be mechanized, automated, robotized and computerized. This will eliminate the distinction between mental and physical labor by reducing people’s physical strength in production. Furthermore, by ensuring that the economy can be managed and operated only by producers with high levels of knowledge and skill, it will stimulate the improvement of producers’ technical skills, making physical labor no different from the mental labor of engineers and specialists.

-Juche Political Economy Textbook.


So we can conclude by stating that communist society as envisioned by DPRK is at the same time very similar to the orthodox Marxist idea (classless society, withering away of state, abolition of mental/labor differences, to each according to his needs) while removing the technocratic and economist ideas of Marxism.

This is up to you to see if this is compatible with what you would call a communist society.

Admin’s note: how does DPRK differentiate complete socialism from communism and from the socialist state it currently is? Why does DPRK believe class struggle is still continuing, contrary to Stalin ? (Originally a reply to a follower of this channel, Renee, that I thank for her question!)

To be honest, the fact that Stalin declared the end of class struggle is a common misconception used by Trotskyites, Khrushevites and Maoists that I myself don’t believe in, but since they are common thesis I preferred to use them without elaborating, simplifying the real critique DPRK has about Stalin.

Basically their argument is this quote in 1939, 18th party Congress of CPSU(B):

The feature that distinguishes Soviet society today from any capitalist society is that it no longer contains antagonistic, hostile classes; that the exploiting classes have been eliminated, while the workers, peasants and intellectuals, who make up Soviet society, live and work in friendly collaboration. Whereas capitalist society is torn by irreconcilable antagonisms between workers and capitalists and between peasants and landlords -- resulting in its internal instability -- Soviet society, liberated from the yoke of exploitation, knows no such antagonisms, is free of class conflicts, and presents a picture of friendly collaboration between workers, peasants and intellectuals. It is this community of interest which has formed the basis for the development of such motive forces as the moral and political unity of Soviet society (…).

Unfortunately for them this contradicts everything Stalin explained about the intensification of class struggle under socialism (see his works against "right deviation" in 1928-1929), the evolution of socialism (see "economic problems of socialism" where he clearly talks about restauration of capitalism if economists’ lines triumph) or even the necessary struggle against bureaucracy (see "Mastering Bolshevism").

What is true is that Stalin claimed to reach socialism, first-stage communism, which is criticized by DPRK as a mistake that leads to revisionism, but this needs a long explanation : normally, the basis of socialism are socialization of means of production, distribution according to labor and central planning for social need. Yes, they were reached, this is why Soviet Union was a socialist society which abolished exploitation of man by man and where production was done to satisfy the cultural and material interests of the people.

But according to President Kim Il-Sung in his work "On the Questions of the Period of Transition From Capitalism to Socialism and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat",the first-stage socialism will be attained only when the entirety of means of production, including agriculture, will be socialized, and money, law of value and commodity production abolished.

For Kim Il-Sung (he doesn’t mention directly Stalin or Soviets in this work, this is DPRK economists and philosophers who will build on it), Stalin mixed up two concepts : dictatorship of proletariat and transition period towards socialism. The dictatorship of the prolerariat indeed lasts from first basis of socialism towards final state communism, while transition is from the basis towards first-stage socialism.

By this logic, due to Stalin’s mistake, Soviet leaders after him will logically regard socialism reached and give up dictatorship of prolerariat, using this mix up to its fullest conclusion.

Meanwhile, DPRK, despite, having exactly the same economic principles as Soviet 1936 constitution, doesn’t proclaim having attained first-stage socialism, for them, it is supposed to be reached when money-system is abolished and farms are socialized. To quote Juche Political Economy Textbook:

The first characteristic of economic relations in a completely victorious socialist society is that they are based on the sole control of the entire people over the means of production. (…) cooperative ownership is transformed into all-people ownership.

(…) The second characteristic (…) is that the relationship of comradely cooperation and assistance among people in economic activities is further strengthened and developed.(…) class differences between the working class and the peasantry disappear, and the technological revolution is carried out at a higher level, greatly reducing the differences in physical labor. (…) Thirdly, the characteristic the demand for the law of distribution according to labor is realized in a new form. (…) And unlike the previous period when distribution according to labor was ultimately realized through commerce, it will be realized through a complete supply system. (…) With the sole dominance of ownership by the entire people, commodity production and exchange cease, and the economic categories that reflect the law of value and commodity-money relations in their own sense cease to function. On the other hand, the economic laws and economic categories that reflect the nature of the socialist economic system come into play more comprehensively, and its demands are more thoroughly implemented.

This is also why DPRK is currently developing countryside as the news I post since I have started this channel show, because DPRK plans to modernize agriculture and prepare for nationalization of all means of production alongside end of commodity production soon. Kim Jong-Un recently claimed to reach socialism, first-stage communism, by 10 years (2035), if no accident happens on the road.

Voice of Korea:Efforts directed to development of science and technology

Different units in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are making a big stride of advance with science and technology as the lifeline of their development.

The Phyongsong Artificial Leather Factory has set it as an important task for technical development to remodel the production processes into the power- and labour-saving ones and ensure the home production of raw materials and is actively arousing the creative enthusiasm of technicians and skilled workers.

The Pyongyang Dental Hygiene Products Factory regularly organizes a technical innovation prize contest for developing new products and renewing technical indexes of production processes to bring the creative initiative of the masses into full play.

The Ragwon Jinhung Technical Exchange Company developed plant activation reinforcing agents actively contributing to boosting the agricultural production and a lubricant, a hi-tech product which can increase the serviceable life of machinery and equipment of different kinds and established a process of producing health foods of various kinds, making a clear progress in its development.

Voice of Korea:Measures to attain new goals taken in field of education

The educational sector is taking practical measures to attain new goals.

The Ministry of Education induces the officials and educators in the field of education to grasp the new curricula and make preparations for their implementation.

Short courses of subjects for educators are given in cities and counties and preparations for short courses to be given to officials concerned in the provinces, cities and counties are also made.

Universities and colleges across the country are working to consolidate and further develop the successes achieved in the improvement of the educational structure last year and raise the educational contents and methods to a higher level.

The field of general education is pushing ahead with the work to create and introduce educational methods according to the age and psychological characteristics of schoolchildren.

Pyongyang Times decided to come back at this school and list major facilities of the school and their rooms

AI education room

The AI education room of the school is equipped with all kinds of modern educational facilities and equipment including robot for education to give education in AI technology stage by stage.

Kindergarten children play with robots as extracurricular activities to acquire knowledge which will enable them to receive next-stage education in AI technology and children in the primary school course learn simple algorithms.
Those in the junior middle school course receive education in programming, while those in the senior middle school course learn the ABC of AI technology through the designing, making and operation of robots that suit their levels.

TV broadcast and children’s broadcast rooms

The school has a TV broadcast room and children’s broadcast room.
Equipped with a new service system, the rooms serve as the venue for various meetings, such as a meeting for honour students to tell about their pride and a meeting to present talents, helping improve the efficiency of education and edification.

The rooms encourage students to do good things and develop their talents while studying hard and thereby take the stage to boast of their sources of pride. In particular, they are very influential as they inspire students to try to perform as a child announcer.

Teaching method laboratory
The school also has a teaching method laboratory equipped with modern educational means and various teaching resources, where teachers can have meetings according to school types and departments or joint department meetings.

There, teachers get together to intensify research for creating teaching methods, and the officials of the school, teachers in charge and those for subjects of special study pool their wisdom to discuss efficient teaching methods by taking students’ results into account.

The database established in the laboratory supports teachers in their efforts to invent new teaching methods.

Practical classroom
Every classroom for the primary school course is provided with teaching aids needed for the implementation of the curriculum.

Little schoolchildren personally operate the teaching aids at after-school hours to consolidate the knowledge they have learned and prepare for the next lessons.

It is something new at the school that every student is allowed to handle teaching aids.

This image, released in 1954, shows a cheerful Korean construction worker a a building a wall labelled 로동생산능률제고" or "Raising Labour Productivity Efficiency" with a figure falling off the wall carrying banners labelled "관류주의" and "형식주의" meaning "Superficialism" and "Formalism".

The additional text can be translated with :

"Today, Party organizations at all levels, state and economic organs, and the entire working people are studying in depth the noble instructions given by the respected Marshal Kim Il Sung at the March Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of our Party, and the important tasks presented at the plenary meetings of Party, state, and economic organs and their organizations for correctly implementing those instructions.

They are resolutely carrying out the great tasks of postwar national economic recovery that have been set forth before them."

From DPRK Explained, that is an excellent Instagram channel about DPRK.

KCNA:The Namhung Youth Chemical Complex in the DPRK boosts the production of fertilizer for farms.

Its workers attained the production goal for January ahead of schedule and have successfully fulfilled the daily fertilizer production plan in February.

The ammonia workshop has ensured the normal operation of equipment by strictly keeping the technical rules and standard operation regulations and checking them in a responsible manner.

The molding workshop is enhancing the responsibility and role of skilled workers, and the gas producing shop is making a breakthrough in ramping up production by increasing the number of gas generators in operation and boosting the per-generator gas output.

The compressor workshops Nos. 1 and 2 and the coal dressing and supplying workshop are providing steam and raw materials in a responsible manner while arousing enthusiasm for the socialist emulation among workshops and shifts. And the forwarding workshop is speeding up the packing and forwarding of fertilizer by applying valuable technical innovation proposals.

The urea workshop has overfulfilled its daily fertilizer production plan every day by lowering norms of materials consumption per unit.

Korean Association of Social Scientists : Distinguished Exploits of Chairman Kim Jong Il

When referring to the single-hearted unity, a harmonious whole, in the DPRK, President Kim Il Sung used to say that it was the distinguished exploits of Chairman Kim Jong Il that he brought about a historic change in which the Party and the popular masses formed a powerful motive force combined into one socio-political organism.

Thanks to the Chairman’s noble benevolent politics, the all-embracing politics, a dignified new history, in which the Party and the people formed a powerful motive force combined into one socio-political organism and brought about the epochal changes by dint of its invincible might, could be created in the DPRK.

Chairman Kim Jong Il's Birth Anniversary Celebrated by Workers in DPRK

Workers and members of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK) met at the Central Hall of Workers on February 11 to celebrate the 84th birth anniversary of Chairman Kim Jong Il.

Present there were officials of the GFTUK Central Committee, and trade union officials and members and workers in Pyongyang.

Choe Jong Chol, vice-chairman of the C.C., GFTUK, made a report to be followed by speeches.

The reporter and speakers said that Kim Jong Il's life is the noblest one of a peerless patriot who performed immortal exploits for the country and its people, the times and revolution with his iron will and indefatigable efforts, holding aloft the red flag of the revolution.

Kim Jong Il laid an eternal foundation for the bright future of the socialist country with his ardent love for the country and the people, and his noble patriotic desire to build a powerful country is being translated into brilliant reality on this land thanks to the outstanding leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, they said.

They expressed their resolve to glorify the glorious Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea with high political enthusiasm and proud successes in increased production, bearing in mind the unshakable faith that the socialist cause of Juche is sure to win as Kim Jong Un leads our revolution.