Note: the image above was taken last year in Hanoi, Vietnam amid a display that was put on in response to U.S.-DPRK diplomacy. It can also be used as a symbol of the synthesis that I describe in this essay.
What does it mean for communists in the imperial center to follow Juche’s idea about how the great masses of people are the drivers of history? To apply the lesson which Kim Jong Il said we can learn from the USSR’s downfall, that being socialist leaders will fail when they forget to center the masses? It means reaching a synthesis between communism as it’s existed thus far, and the cultural traditions of the people within the United States. If we want to learn from Juche, we must not act like we’re above the people. We must take seriously the practice of having faith in the people which was advanced by the original Marxist-Leninists, then further developed by the theorists of Juche.
This is the answer to the exclusionary and arrogant culture that’s come to dominate “leftism” within the USA, and that by extension defines the country’s most established iterations of “communism.” The prevailing attitude within today’s left is that the vast bulk of the people are fundamentally reactionary, a notion which acts to justify all efforts at monopolizing and gatekeeping the workers struggle. Insofar as a labor movement or an antiwar movement are allowed to exist, there’s a layer of actors who try to make sure that such efforts never expand beyond the left-liberal circles.
Such actors position themselves as the unquestionable authorities on building social movements. But as time goes on, they become more and more corrupted. They’ve become more pro-imperialist than ever, as exemplified by the last decade’s liberal pivot towards leading a war against Russia. This is translating into how liberal-aligned activist groups are responding to the Gaza genocide, with there being a “peace police” trend of disavowing Hamas, opposing direct action, and other actions which undermine the pro-Palestine cause.
This is all a symptom of petty-bourgeois radicalism, which by its nature rejects the most important lessons from Juche and other theories produced by successful revolutions. And though we can expect the social democrats and anarchists to tail liberals while dismissing the masses, as these ideologies are the traditional left anti-communist strains, what’s truly insidious is when the liberal tailism comes from forces that call themselves Marxist-Leninist. In countries like the U.S. and Canada, you can easily find political actors who claim to promote the Juche idea, yet reject all projects at expanding the struggle beyond left-liberals. Only in a part of the world where there hasn’t been an authentic communist movement in decades can there be such overlap between ostensible promoters of Juche, and radical liberals who promote the “red-brown alliance” smears.
These elements have come to such a position due to their fundamental detachment from the masses of their society. Because when an effective workers movement hasn’t existed within the lifetime of most Americans, the ones who come to communism can easily be made to feel reliant upon the liberalism-compatible circles that make up today’s default “Marxist” spaces. These spaces are all that most of the movement’s newcomers get exposed to. And they can be kept from leaving these spaces through relentless repetitions of the “red-brown” narratives about those who offer an alternative. It’s a small and closed-off clique that’s not advancing the goals established by Juche, even if the members of these spaces proclaim themselves to be affiliated with Juche.
To truly advance the Juche idea, a communist needs to reject such mindsets, which keep one hostile towards the majority of the people. They must instead look for revolutionary potential in all places where it exists, including within the elements of society that contemporary leftist dogma sees as irredeemably reactionary.
The left opportunists justify their rejection of the rural masses, the libertarian-leaning types, and other elements with revolutionary potential by presenting a false dichotomy between appealing to these elements, and bringing representation to black and indigenous people. In order to do so, they need to distort the class character of the latter groups, acting as if the interests of New African and Native workers are hopelessly far-removed from the interests of the conservative elements which have recently been coming towards anti-imperialism. The reality is that a growing amount of revolutionary potential exists among all of these groups, because they have a shared enemy within the forces of international monopoly finance capital.
As proletarians (especially colonized proletarians) are being threatened with economic destruction and growing state violence, the highest levels of capital are working to crush the lower-level businesses. This creates an opening to expand the revolutionary alliance even into certain sections of the elites, such as the smaller capitalists and the potentially renegade military officials. It’s not just that colonized peoples can unite with the white workers; it’s that workers of all colors can unite with growing amounts of illiberal individuals when it comes to combating imperialism.
Imperialism, and the liberal totalitarianism which it’s increasingly imposing upon the empire’s center, are existential threats towards every social element that’s not materially or ideologically invested in assisting finance capital. Which places traditionally anti-communist forces, like the churches and the military or ex-military members, on the side of the communists in our intensifying class conflict.
The growing revolutionary potential of these forces comes from how their cultural character is one of illiberalism; of firmly believing in something, and committing oneself to it. This attitude is opposed to liberalism’s mentality of detaching oneself from loyalty towards anything collective, and rejecting the notion of objective truth. This is why the country’s conservative elements have been coming into conflict with the tech monopolies: the liberals in charge of big tech are ever-more trying to suppress illiberal sentiments, wherever they are on the ideological spectrum. The technocrats don’t care if an illiberal is left or right, they simply see them as a problem which needs to be corrected. This effort to purge liberalism’s ideological challengers is connected to what the lockdowns represented, which was an effort at destroying all economic sectors beyond the monopolies. The liberals view everything besides finance capital as expendable, and as a target for their “degrowth” austerity campaign.
The western distorters of Juche want us to view Juche’s anti-colonial values as being in conflict with building a serious coalition among imperialism’s opponents. They want us to perceive a contradiction between liberating the peoples within the imperial center who are oppressed by colonialism, and embracing a practice that’s actually capable of defeating the state. We must tell the truth about Juche: that it’s not compatible with the anti-popular, liberal academia-aligned program which so many of its western promoters represent. It’s instead compatible with a project to reach a synthesis between the illiberal cultural traditions which drive so many within our society—such as God, family, and love for one’s people—and the socioeconomic programs within Juche’s Marxist-Leninist program.
These two strains of thought have the potential to complement and strengthen each other, because they both come from the same impulse to become independent from the destructive force of liberalism. To free our society from the high-level capitalists who seek to fully destroy our productive forces and centers of community, so that they can consolidate resources behind a new world war effort. Communists tend to be atheistic, because independence from religion makes one inclined to seek out alternative ideological frameworks. This doesn’t mean we atheistic communists should be arrogant, and assume that those within our own cultural camp deserve to monopolize the workers movement. Because even though the secular parts of U.S. society have been growing more numerous, blankedly rejecting the religious and otherwise non-“left” elements would defeat the proletarian cause.
The insular, liberal-aligned left seeks to divide the two big sections of the country’s revolution-compatible population. We must defeat this effort to sabotage our proletarian revolution, and construct an American Juche that’s united the majority of the people behind a project at advancing our society to its next stage.
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