The Juche Idea (Series 5)

General Understanding of Society

The Juche view of socio-history is an important part of the Juche philosophy.

On the basis of the man-centred philosophical outlook, the Juche philosophy newly established the Juche view of socio-history.

The Juche view of socio-history clarified the nature of society and the peculiar laws of its development and systemized them in an integral way, centring on man. It is the man-centred, the people-centred view of socio-history.

Herein lies the fundamental characteristics and superiority of the Juche view of socio-history that make it different from the previous views of socio-history.

The establishment of the Juche view of socio-history has brought about a fundamental change in the view of and attitude towards society and history and laid the basis of principle for the Juche view of revolution.

It is important to have the understanding of society in order to acquire a correct understanding of the Juche view of socio-history. A full knowledge of the nature and character of society is essential for getting a correct understanding of the laws of its development.

The world in which we are living consists of two parts; nature and society.

Society, along with nature, is an important living circumstance for man.

Apart from society, man cannot survive nor develop.

For this reason, man entertained deep interest in it and made strenuous effort so as to get its true picture. A correct view of society, however, was not made available, because social phenomena are far more complicated than the natural phenomena and the reactionary ruling class that dominated society for a long period put obstacles to its establishment as they were afraid that the contradictions of the exploiter society might be laid bare.

The social phenomena, however complicated, were to be disclosed one after another and the true picture of the exploiter society, in spite of the desperate efforts the reactionaries of history made, was to be exposed.

In the middle of the 19th century, Marxism unveiled the secrets of exploitation and exploiter society. Marxism, however, failed to give a perfect scientific view of society for the limitations of its times and theory.

The correct view of society could be made available at last by the great Juche philosophy of our times.

Now, we will study the general understanding of society clarified by the Juche philosophy.

1. What is Society and Who is Its Master

In order to understand society, it is important to know what is society and who is its master. Only then, can one get a correct understanding of its nature and picture.

What is society?

This question gives an answer to the nature of society.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said.

"Society, in a nutshell, is a collective of people."

That society is a collective of people means that people are organically combined to form society.

The word society originally means the community of people.

Man can never survive as an isolated being. He is a social being who can live only through cooperation in a collective. Since his emergence, man has lived in collective, and since then, the material world that had consisted of only nature gave a rise to a new part, the society.

That society is a collective of people does not mean that it is a mechanical grouping of individuals like a pile of stones. It is a social collective in which men entered into social relations out of consciousness. This is proved by the fact that there is a social order in the collective and that the mode of their combination, their cooperative relationship and their collective life constantly improve.

In nature there are animals that live in groups. In case of a swarm of bees, there are certain "orders" and "rules" in the group. The group life of animals, however, is not formed out of their consciousness, but out of their natural and physiological instinct. This is proved by the fact that it does not change even after millions of years and unless the natural circumstances change. The collective of people is a conscious social community that is fundamentally different from the group of animals, a natural and biological grouping.

Why, then, do people live in collective? That is because people can maintain their survival and shape their destiny only through cooperation in collective.

Apart from social collective, no man can produce means of life. Some people may think that an individual can plough and do farming all alone. This is attributable to the fact that they do not know that the land or labour tools necessary for farming are products of society and history. The labour activities of men to produce means of life have been collective from the outset and are getting more social with the progress of history. This is a known fact.

Only in social collective, can man develop his independence, creativity and consciousness. The independent consciousness and creative ability are not inborn. They are acquired and developed only through social education, school education and social practices.

In case a man is alone in an uninhabited island, it is impossible for him to survive unless he has already acquired the techniques and ability in social collective to provide for his life. Never can or will there be a man outside the social collective.

As the social collective constitutes a basic condition for people's survival and development, they live in collective, and this is society.

Who is the master of society

The question as to who is the master of society is very important in understanding the society. When we know who is the master of society, we, on that basis, can understand all the social phenomena correctly. This was not raised as an issue for philosophical thinking in the past and therefore no answer was made for it. This can be said to be a reason why the preceding philosophy did not give a correct view of society.

The Juche philosophy newly raised the question of who is master of society and gave a correct answer to it, thus laying a basis for a proper understanding of society.

In order to get an answer to this question it is imperative to know the constituent parts of society. This is because the question is raised in relations with those that constitute society.

What does society consist of, namely, how is society composed?

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said.

"Society consists of people, the social wealth they have created and the social relations which link them."

That society is the collective of people does not mean that society consists only of people.

Society consists of man, social wealth and social relations.

Man is the basic component part of society.

Since society is the collective of man, society is inconceivable apart from man. Man always stands in the centre of society and the other parts of society exist in relation with him.

Another component part of society is social wealth.

The social wealth, an ensemble of the means created and used by man, includes material and mental wealth. The material wealth covers not only the means that are directly used to meet the material needs of man but also the means that are used to produce them. The mental wealth covers ideology, morality, science, art, literature and so on, which are used to meet man's mental demand.

The social wealth are indispensable for the survival and development of man. Only with the social wealth, can man survive, maintain and develop society and train himself into a more powerful being.

Man and social wealth are linked by social relations.

The social relations are social orders that combine people and regulate their actions.

People are organically combined to form a society as they consciously enter into social relations and they keep and develop society as they act according to orders.

The social relations are not pure human relations but relations among people that are formed around social wealth.

According to the fields of social life, the social relations are divided into political relations, economic relations and ideological and cultural relations.

The social relations become social system when they are consolidated in society.

For instance, the capitalist production relations born in feudal society developed into economic system in capitalist society but not in feudal society.

Like this, society consists of man, social wealth and social relations.

Who is, then, the master of the society?

That is man, the basic component part of society.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said.

"The masters of society are the people. They are social beings with independence, creativity and consciousness who carve out their destiny independently and creatively."

That man is the master of society means he is the master of social wealth and social relations. The social wealth and social relations that constitute society are all created, transformed and used by man.

First of all, man is master of social wealth.

From the start of human history up till now all the material and mental wealth of society has been made by people's creative labour and served them. Of course there are things such as trees and mineral resources which are used by man as they are in nature. But those that are not worked by human are not social wealth but nature.

All the social wealth are for the benefit of man. From olden times, they say man comes before wealth. It is not true that man exists for social wealth, but social wealth exists for him. The social wealth that does not serve man neither has any value nor can be called social wealth.

Man is under the influence and action of social wealth. The advanced ideology and culture and modern scientific and technical means make man more powerful and act on his activities to transform nature and society. What is basic and master in the relations between the social wealth and man? That is none other than man.

It is quite natural that man becomes master of what he has created.

In the capitalist society which does not accord with the original principle of society, man is a slave of money, technology and machines. If this society is transformed to accord with the original principle of society, man will become the genuine master of wealth and the phenomenon of man being subjugated by the wealth will be eliminated.

Man is master of not only social wealth but also social relations.

It is man who makes and develops the social relations.

Man is the direct agent of the social relations. He demands social relations and forms them. He also transforms the social relations. He constantly transforms and improves the social relations to meet his aspirations and demands.

Man also uses the social relations. People set up social orders through social relations and shape their destiny in cooperation.

Of course, man lives and acts under the influence of the social relations. The old and reactionary social relations destroy unity and cooperation among people, creating confrontation and discord among them, and arrest their creative activities. Man does not merely adapt himself to the influence of the social relations but he replaces the old and reactionary social relations with new and advanced ones, while dominating them.

In this context, society is a collective in which the social wealth and social relations are organically combined with people as the master.

Marxism also produced the view of the component parts of society.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said.

"Marxist materialistic conception of history broke down society into social being and social consciousness and attached determining significance to the 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."

Marxism divided the world into matter and consciousness and clarified their interrelations, producing a philosophical principle, and applied the principle in society as it is to divide society into social being and social consciousness, stressing that the social being defines the social consciousness. Here, the social being means the material conditions (the mode of production formed by the combination of productive forces and production relations, the density of population, and the natural and geographical circumstances) of social life that are reflected in social consciousness, whereas the social consciousness means political, legal, and philosophical views and ideology, arts, morality, science, religion, etc, the reflection of the social being.

Marxism divided the social structure into productive forces and production relations, basis and superstructure and attached decisive significance to material production, production relations (basis) and economic relations.

With this view of social components and structure, Marxism rendered contribution to overcoming the idealistic view of society and establishing a materialistic understanding of it.

Marxism, however, dissolved man into social wealth and social consciousness, failing to observe him as an independent component part of society and the master of society.

The Juche philosophy views man as an independent component part of society and its master, observing society with him at the centre, and thus established a new scientific view of society.

2. What Belongs to Social Collective

Since a society is the collective of people, it is necessary to know the social collective so as to have a better understanding of society.

Society consists of social collectives of different types that have been formed in certain modes. The social collective consists of clans, tribes and nations that are formed historically and classes and strata that are divided according to social status. There are also social collectives such as political parties and social organizations that are organized from a certain purpose.

There is no need to discuss them in detail. Since man lives and develops as a member of a nation or a class, it is very important to know about the nation and class.

So, let's observe the nation and class.

Nation

Nation has not existed from the beginning of human society. The first social collective in human society were clans and tribes, the social collectives formed through kinship on the basis of the common demand to maintain their survival and conquer nature.

In these collectives, the common life was kept and developed by customs, morality and such organizations as clan or tribal councils. The clans or tribes discovered in the undeveloped areas in Australia and Latin America in the 20th century show the true looks of the social collectives at the beginning of human society. With the development of society and history, the clans and tribes gradually collapsed and a social collective, nation, emerged in the arena of history.

Nation is a solid collective of people formed historically and a unit of social life.

What is important in understanding nation is to know what the criteria of nation are, when it was formed and what its life and soul is.

What are the criteria of nation?

Nobody denies that nation existed in the past and still exists.

There are, however, different views of nation. That is related to the different views of the criteria of nation. Only when these criteria are correctly defined, is it possible to make a correct definition of nation and understand peculiar characteristics of nation that are different from other social collectives.

The criteria of a nation clarified by the Juche philosophy is the community of blood ties, language, cultural life and region.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said that nation is a solid collective of the people that is formed socially and historically on the basis of the community of blood ties, language, cultural life and region.

The community of blood ties is the main criterion that characterizes nation.

It is the basis which combines people into a solid collective and the foundation that underlies the community of language and cultural life. The collective that shares different blood ties cannot be called a nation in any case.

The community of blood ties that characterizes a nation is not a simple biological community. That is a community formed socially and historically.

Through the process of living in a certain region, people are linked through kinship, and this is spread and consolidated along with the passage of time to form the community of blood ties on a social scale. There are homogeneous nations like the Korean nation and heterogeneous nations like the nations in Europe and other regions that have lived for a long time in same regions, sharing common life and being linked through kinship to form the community of blood ties.

To regard the community of blood ties as the criterion of a nation has nothing to do with the bourgeois nationalism or racism which discusses about the superiority or inferiority of a nation on the basis of the criterion and reject other nations. It is aimed at having a correct understanding of the characteristics of each nation and keep the excellence of the nation.

In the past, Hitler's Germany claimed that the purity of the Aryan blood should be ensured and set this as its state policy. This was a sophistry and notorious national chauvinistic and misanthropic idea in that it claimed that the Aryans should dominate the world as they were the most "superior" nation.

The community of language is an important criterion that characterizes nation.

Language is a form of expressing ideas and a means of social communications. Language is formed in the long process and develops along with the nation down through generations. Only through the same language, can people exchange their ideas, making close links to form a nation.

The usage of the same language, however, does not mean that the people are always the same nation. There are different nations in the world that use same languages. Although they use same languages, they are not the same nation if they share different blood ties.

Language is closely linked with the destiny of a nation. The assimilation of language leads to the assimilation of the nation and the obliteration of language leads to the obliteration of the nation. The imperialists, therefore, tried to stamp out native languages in their colonial countries in the past in order to keep their domination, and, today, they try to "globalize" their languages for world hegemony.

The community of cultural life and region is also a criterion of nation.

The community of cultural life is formed and consolidated in the long process of people's living, using the same language and sharing the same blood ties. This community plays a big part in cultivating the peculiar spirit of the nation and enhancing the nation's consciousness of independence.

The community of region links people through a living unit and serves as a condition for ensuring the community of blood ties, language and cultural life.

The community of region, however, is not always a criterion of nation. It is not the community possessed by man, the main element in forming and developing the nation, it is the community of living environment and conditions of a nation. Today even after the formation of nations, in some cases, some of their members live in different regions due to various reasons or the division of their territories. In this case, they remain as members of the original nations if they keep their national character, preserving the community of blood ties and language.

From this, we can say that the most important criterion characterizing nation is the community possessed by the people who form the nation, that is, the community of blood ties and language.

Nation is the cradle of its members' lives in which they share destiny.

Since the emergence of nation and country after the disintegration of clan or tribe, people shape their destiny and make social progress with a country or nation as a unit.

The destiny of each man is closely linked with the destiny of the nation.

When a nation is free, the people, its members, can live freely and when a nation is prosperous, they can live happily. A saying goes that the people who are deprived of their country are as miserable as a dog of the house in mourning. If a country or nation is subjugated to others, its people cannot escape the destiny of slavery. Separated from their country or nation, the people cannot live a true life. It is known that the "roving lives" or "international men" who betrayed their country or nation are maltreated and humiliated as "men of the second category".

Then when were the nations formed?

They are formed in a certain stage of historical development.

The historical period of their formation is different according to nations.

Some nations were formed earlier and some later, according to the activity of the people's struggle and the social and historical conditions.

Prior to the rise of capitalism, nations were formed in many countries in the East where there had existed centralist states and unified units of political life earlier.

The Korean nation sprang from the inhabitants of Tangun's Korea (Kojoson) formed in the early 30th century B.C. As a result of the expansion of the scope of Kojoson to the majority of the Korean peninsula and the areas along the rivers of Liaohe and Songhuajiang(north stream) Koreans, who had been living in this region maintaining blood ties came to have closer political, economic and cultural links under a powerful state, establishing the commonness of blood ties, language and culture eventually to form Korean nation already in the Ancient Age.

In the West European region, people lived a nomad life in the Ancient Age, lived in different small dukedoms in the Middle Age and formed nations in the Modern Age along with the rise of capitalism independence is the life and soul of a nation.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said that the independence of a nation is the life and soul of the nation and the defence of independence is the basic guarantee for the existence and development of the nation.

As independence is the life and soul of man, the social being, so independence is the life and soul of a nation, the solid collective of people.

Only with the spirit of independence, can a nation achieve its freedom.

All nations have sovereignty and the ability to exercise it. Only when a nation fully exercises its right to independence with which to decide and solve its own problems by itself, can it be independent and free, adding lustre to its dignity and honour.

If it moves to the tune of others without the spirit of independence, a nation will eventually be colonial slave. This is demonstrated by the fact that some of the nations which got free from colonial yoke, unable to defend their sovereignty, are actually in subordination to others. The existence of a nation depends on whether it has the spirit of independence or not.

Only with independence, can a nation achieve its development and prosperity.

All nations are desirous of their independent development and prosperity.

A nation can be powerful and demonstrate its spirit, only when it builds up its own power. But if it tries to achieve its prosperity depending on foreign forces instead of its own force, this will entail its decline and disintegration. It is a stark reality the developing countries are experiencing. Historical experience shows that success or ruin of a nation depends on whether it has the spirit of independence or not.

Independence is the priceless life and soul for a nation. Ignorance of national independence is immediately ignorance of the nation itself.

Since the independence is the life and soul of a nation, the question of a nation is decided at all times by the question of defending and realizing national independence.

Each nation has its national character.

The national character is the special features of the members of a nation that have been formed in the long historical process of the formation and development of the nation.

The national character embodies the soul and traditions of the nation; it is a valuable wealth of the nation and important assets for its development.

Raised from this is the requirement to keep and defend the national character for the nation's development. If the national character is neglected or slighted, it is impossible to keep the excellence of the nation or ensure its prosperity. The national character can be maintained and developed only when the national independence is defended.

There were some views concerning the nation.

Marxism and Leninism held that the criterion of a nation was the psychological community based on the commonness of language, region, economic life and cultural life. Here, the community of economic life was regarded as the major criterion. It further argued that the social collective, called nation, was formed at last in the capitalist period and would gradually wither away in the process of building socialism and communism.

If one adheres to this view, it is impossible to get answers to the questions about to which nation those who, for some reasons, live in different regions or live different economic lives belong, about how nations were formed in those countries which had not gone through the regular stages of capitalist development and about how a nation will develop in the process of building socialism and communism.

The questions about nation in our times can be correctly solved only by the Juche view. The Juche view of the criteria and formation of a nation, its spirit of independence and its national character is a correct guide to solving the present and future problems of the nation.

Class

Class is an important social collective. In class society, everybody belongs to a certain class.

What is important in understanding a class is to know the definition of class, the basic factor that defines it and the period and course of its appearance.

Now we will see what class is.

Class is a collective of people distinguishable in their social status according to the possession of the means of production and state power.

For different reasons, people are in different social status.

Composition of class is different according to society. The major classes are slave-owners and slaves in slave society, landlords and peasants in feudal society, capitalists and workers in capitalist society and working class and peasants in socialist society.

As mentioned in the definition of class, the basic factor that defines class is the ownership of the means of production and state power.

Class is defined, first of all, by who owns the means of production.

The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung said.

"The ownership of the means of production is the basic factor in defining classes."

The ownership of the means of production has two aspects; the degree of ownership and the types of ownership of the means of production. The degree of ownership of the means of production explains whether one has means of production or not and if he has, how many he has, whereas the types of ownership explain what kinds of means of production one owns and how.

People's economic status is directly defined by their ownership of the means of production. In exploiter society where private property over the means of production holds sway, people are divided into exploiting class and exploited class.

In this society, the people who have many means of production become exploiting class, taking a big portion of products without even participating in the social labour. They are slaveholders, landlords and capitalists.

On the contrary, those who have a little or none of the means of production become exploited class, economically subjugated and deprived of their labour results, in spite of their direct participation in the social labour. They are slaves, serfs, peasants and workers.

In socialist society, the entire people are masters of the means of production and therefore there are no exploiting and exploited classes divided according to the degree of ownership. There are only working class and cooperative peasants who are divided according to the types of property of the means of production.

Classes are divided also according to the ownership of the state power.

In exploiter society, those who have state power become ruling class and those who have not become the ruled class. Historically, slaveholders, landlords and capitalists in exploiter society were ruling classes that were lording it over politically as they had state power. On the contrary, slaves, serfs, peasants and workers were exploited classes that were dominated politically as they had no state power. In socialist society, the entire people are masters of state power and therefore there are no ruling and ruled classes.

In exploiter society, the exploiting class (class that has the means of production) and the ruling class (class that has state power) are the same but not always.

In feudal society, the bourgeoisie who became rich by exploiting the people while running mines or trading were in the exploited status politically as they had not state power.

Fierce class struggle was fought between the exploiting class and ruling class in one side and the exploited class and dominated class in the other side, this resulted in the collapse of the old classes and produced new classes.

When did classes appear and when will they disappear?

Some people claim the eternity of classes. Is it right?

No, classes are not eternal.

In the past there were a society where there was no class, and there will be a society in the future, too, where there is no class.

At the dawn of human society, the primitive communal society had no class.

In this society, all people were equal in economic status since they worked and got distribution on an equal basis. They were also equal in socio-political status since the social organizations such as clan or tribal councils were jointly managed. In this society, there were no exploitation and oppression and no class and state. With the birth of private property and state in the end of the primitive society, the members of the society were divided into exploiting and exploited classes and ruling and ruled classes.

Classes which were born in the exploiter society have changed into different forms with the replacement of the societies, they will disappear at last when advanced socialism where the people become masters of state power and means of production, free from exploitation, is established and win complete victory. The first stage where the classes cease to exist is the stage in which the exploiting and exploited classes and ruling and ruled classes disappear along with the establishment of socialist system. In this stage, antagonistic classes are eliminated. The next stage is the stage in which peasantry disappears through its assimilation to the working class, along with the complete triumph of socialism. In this stage, even class differences are eliminated. In this historical process, classes wither away with the oncoming of classless society.

There are strata together with classes.

A social stratum is social collective which cannot exist as an independent class but serves a certain class in society.

A typical social stratum is intelligentsia.

Intelligentsia is a collective of people who serve in mental labour, with a certain specialized knowledge and technique. It includes scientists, technicians, doctors, journalists, teachers, artists, etc.

As a matter of fact, intellegentsia emerged through the division of physical and mental labour with the development of cognitive and practical activities with regard to nature and society. This stratum did not exist in the primitive communal society. It began to emerge in slave society and increased in number with the development of society to form a social collective. It is a law that it increases in number with the development of society.

As far as their class origin is concerned, up to feudal society, the intellectuals were mainly from the exploiting and ruling classes. In capitalist society, there came a small number of intellectuals from the working class origin. In socialist society, those of the working people's origin occupy the majority of them.

Class character of intellectuals depends on which class they serve. In any society, they serve this or that class with specialized knowledge and technique.

In exploiter society, most of the intellectuals serve the exploiting class while some progressive ones fight on the side of the masses against the reactionary ruling class. The intellectuals in colonial countries in particular cherish an anti-imperialist and democratic, revolutionary character as they experience national oppression and humiliation. Intellectuals play an important role in the revolutionary struggle for people's independence and social development.

They not only directly participate in the revolutionary struggle to remove the old social system but also play a progressive role of awakening workers and peasants and inspiring them to the revolutionary struggle. And by means of their knowledge and technique, they contribute to the transformation of nature and the development of society while increasing the social wealth.

Like class, intelligentsia is not eternal in human society. In the process of building socialism and communism, the difference between physical and mental labour is narrowed down and intellectualization of the whole society along with its assimilation to the working class is realized; then the stratum of intellectuals come to cease to exist.

The society where there is no class or stratum is communist society, the ideal society of mankind, where complete equality prevails among people.

By giving a correct understanding of social collective, the Juche philosophy enables one to learn that society is the collective of people.

3. Political, Economic and Ideological and Cultural Lives Are the Basic Fields of Social Life.

People lead social life, irrespective of what social collective they belong to.

It is therefore important in understanding society to know social life.

People's social life takes place in various form and in various fields. This is divided into political, economic and ideological and cultural lives. Social life in the three fields has continued to develop throughout the human history.

Political life

When taking about social life, we first talk about political life. This is because political life is most important in social life.

Since political life is guaranteed by politics, it is necessary to know about politics in order to know political life.

Politics is a social function that organizes and controls in a uniform way people's activities according to the common interests of class or society.

People who form society have communities as well as differences. They have different demands, abilities, tastes and characters, and they behave differently.

Unless their activities are uniformly organized and controlled, society cannot be maintained and developed. Accordingly, politics exists in any society.

Politics assumes class character in class society. The class character of politics depends on which class's interests it defends. The politics that defends the interests of the exploiting class becomes the politics of the exploiting class, whereas the politics that defends the interests of the people becomes the politics of the people.

Politics is implemented through political organization.

The work of uniformly organizing and controlling the people's activities is very complicated and difficult. Accordingly, this necessitates political organization that wields authority. Slogans or speeches have no authority.

What is important in political organization is the state power.

State power is the most comprehensive political organization which exercises political command over the whole society. The people in a certain territory are all under the influences and instructions of the state power in it. Relying on the legislative and administrative organs which are supported by judicial, procuratorial and public security organs, the state power exercises politics for all the members of society.

In class society, state power assumes class character.

In exploiter society, state power is an instrument to control society in the interests of the ruling class that seized the state power and its basic mode of activities is dictatorship over the working masses. In socialist society, the state power is the organ which defends the interests of the masses, the masters of the power, and serves them and its basic mode of activities is socialist democracy.

An important political organization is the political party.

Party is a political organization of the people who share the same idea and ideal.

Party represents the common demands and interests of a class, social collective or society and fights to implement them.

Parties are divided according to which class's interests they defend largely into the working-class party, bourgeois party and petty-bourgeois party. This tells that party assumes class character.

The party that has seized the state power is called the party in power.

The party in power implements its policies through the state power.

There are also other political organizations according to strata, occupations and sex. They are youth union, trade union, women's union, etc.

What is, then, political life?

The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung said.

"The political life which provides the people with genuine political freedom and rights as masters of the state and society, guarantees valuable socio-political integrity for them and enables them to add lustre to it is the most important of all their activities."

First of all, political life is the people's activities and struggle to enjoy genuine political freedom and rights as masters of the state and society.

To enjoy genuine political freedom and rights is the essential demand of man, the social being. Nobody wants to live under political subjugation and humiliation. If one has no political rights and freedom, he is dead as a social being.

Here is a song.

"When man was named man,

He was born with equal rights to freedom.

Without the rights, he is like the dead,

Never can freedom be exchanged with life."

(This is a song sung by the Korean revolutionaries in the days of revolutionary struggle against the Japanese imperialist colonial rule.)

For man, a social being, political freedom and rights are more valuable than his physical life. Therefore, genuine exercise of political freedom and rights is political life proper to man.

In order to enjoy the political freedom and rights, man must become master of the state power. That is because political freedom and rights are ensured by the state power. Those who have state power can enjoy political life to meet their interests and demand as masters, but those who have not are marginalized as the object of politics. People therefore conduct various political activities, an important aspect of political life, in order to seize the state power.

Political activities for the state power is indispensable for every social being, but they were not permitted for the masses who had lived in slave's status in the whole historical process of exploiter society. So was the case in the barbarious slave-hold society and unenlightened feudal society and even in the so-called developed modern capitalist society. In capitalist society, the ruling class that has seized state power vociferate about "freedom" and "equality" but in reality they alone enjoy privileges and unlimited freedom, marginalizing the working masses. This is proved by the fact that in these countries, there are hardly any parliamentarians of the worker or peasant origin. That the workers and peasants cannot express their political views or demands through the mass media and that the peoples who are imprisoned cannot afford to employ lawyers to prove their innocence.

In those societies, the people's political activities to become masters of the state power are oppressed. Humanity still remembers how the participants in the Paris Commune in the last century were massacred in cold blood and how the political activities of communists in the fascist Germany in the middle of the present century were suppressed.

It is no secret that the oppression of the progressive people's political activities for political freedom and rights are committed now in a more cunning way in the developed capitalist countries that advocate the so-called "freedom" and "democracy".

Amidst vicious oppression of the reactionary ruling class, the people have constantly conducted political activities to seize the state power and become its masters and eventually smashed the capitalist system and set up socialist system, bringing about a new change in their state political life.

In socialist society, the people enjoy genuine political life. In this society, the people are masters of the state power which provides them with fullest political freedom and rights. In this society, the state power organ consists of the representatives of workers, peasants and working intellectuals who carry out popular politics, with the result that the people lead dignified and stable political life. The people's political activities to play the role of masters of the state power are encouraged and ensured.

Political life is also the activities and struggle of the people to have and keep valuable socio-political integrity.

The value and honour of a man lies in exalting his socio-political integrity not in money or property. Money and property, however much, cannot enhance the man's character or make him enjoy others' love and respect. Only when a social man do good for the society and fellow people, exalting socio-political integrity, can he possess high personality and enjoy fellow people's love and respect.

The political life to preserve socio-political integrity is ensured through revolutionary political organizations (working-class party and social organizations). The parent body of socio-political integrity is the revolutionary political organization. When a man fulfils his responsibility and duty as a member of revolutionary political organization in the process of struggle for people's independence, he can acquire and preserve his socio-political integrity.

The political life through which people acquire and keep socio-political integrity as members of revolutionary political organization is fully ensured in socialist society.

In capitalist society, the bourgeois political parties seize the state power, domineering over the society, and therefore the people's political and organizational life is controlled and restrained.

In capitalist society, all the people are not involved in revolutionary political organizations and many of them remain unaffiliated. And even in the case they lead political and organizational life in revolutionary political organizations, their activities assume illegal character in many cases as the activities are restricted in content and scope by the capitalist law.

For instance, in many cases strikes, demonstrations and assemblies are secretly prepared and organized because of the reactionaries' tricks of sabotage.

In socialist society, however, all members of the society are involved in revolutionary political organizations and people's political and organizational life are not restricted at all as the revolutionary party of the working class leads the society politically. In this society therefore all people lead worthwhile political life, preserving valuable socio-political integrity.

The imperialists and reactionaries slander the people's political and organizational life in the socialist society, calling it "restriction of freedom" and "totalitarianism", but this is a complete distortion of reality. The reality tells that the people lead genuine freedom and worthwhile life in socialist society through revolutionary political and organizational life.

Political life is a field of decisive significance in social life.

That is because the social life depends on political life. Since politics plays the leading role in society, the social man should lead political life independently to lead his economic and ideological and cultural life independently. If a man is politically oppressed and enjoys no right, he will naturally be plunged in to miserable plight economically and cannot escape from ideological and cultural prejudice and ignorance.

This is attributed to the fact that socio-political integrity is most valuable for a social being.

Physical life is valuable, too, for a man. But what is incomparably more important than it is socio-political integrity. If a man simply eats and lives without political life, his life is not different from the animal's. When a man acquires and keeps socio-political integrity as a member of a revolutionary political organization, he can live a worthwhile life forever. The eternal life so longed for by humanity is to keep the socio-political integrity.

Economic life

Economic life is a basic aspect of social life.

Economic life is the social life to produce and consume material wealth necessary for subsistence.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said that economic life is the life to produce, distribute, exchange and consume the materials necessary for living.

Without the means of life, like food, clothing and housing, people cannot survive. The economic life to produce and consume them therefore exists in any society and will go along with humanity forever.

What is important in economic life is, first, labour life to produce material wealth.

Labour is purposeful and conscious activities of man to transform nature and create material wealth. Only when man produce material wealth, can he survive and develop. The labour life to produce material wealth takes place before the material life to consume it. Labour therefore takes precedence in economic life. It is not accidental that the rise of human being is closely related with the labour life.

Production of material wealth is accomplished through the process in which man with labour force acts on the object of labour with labour tools. Therefore, man with labour force, labour tool and labour target are called three elements of production. Here man with labour force and the labour tool form productive forces.

Labour force comprises of scientific and technical knowledge, experience, ability and skill necessary for production activities and is supported by his physical strength. The production tool (labour tool) is all the material and technical means used in production.

What is basic in the composition of the productive forces is man.

Of course the development of the production tools finds its expression in the development of the productive forces. It is, however, people who make and use the production tools. Apart from people, the production tools cannot be made or do any function. Today robots substitute man's labour but they are made and controlled by man. The decisive factor for the development of the productive forces is therefore in enhancing people's creative ability.

What is important in economic life is also the material life to consume the produced material wealth.

Without consuming material wealth, man cannot survive, In this context, the material life can be called the life to meet the primary demand of man. Man's production of material wealth is not for its own sake but for his survival through its consumption.

Everybody wants to lead a rich material life. Only through equal and rich material life, can man as a social being lead an independent and creative life.

Man's economic life takes place in certain social relations, and this is called production relations.

Production relations are the social relations people enter into in the process of economic life. They include all social relations formed in the process of producing, distributing, exchanging and consuming the material wealth.

What is important in the production relations is, first, the ownership of the means of production.

The ownership of the means of production expresses who possesses the means of production and how. Those who have the means of production hold masters' position in production and those who have not are in the position of subjugation state in production.

The ownership of the means of production is divided largely into private ownership and social ownership. The former is dominant in exploiter society while the latter is dominant in socialist society.

What is also important in the production relations is the relations of distribution of the products.

When there is production, there are relations of distribution. That is, there is an order of distributing what has been produced. In class society, the distribution of social output is always done according to the demand of the class that has the means of production.

What is basic in the production relations is the ownership of the means of production. Those who own the means of production have the rights to organize production and distribute the products. In exploiter society, the producers of the material wealth are the masses of the people but they don't get as much as they worked, living miserably in poverty. This is because they do not own the means of production

Only in socialist society where social ownership of the means of production holds sway, can the masses become masters of production and enjoy the material wealth.

Today the imperialists and reactionaries clamour about the "superiority" and "efficiency" of the private ownership, but this is a sophistry to defend and embellish capitalist society where exploitation of man by man and the law of jungle prevails.

Economic life constitutes the basis of social life.

It is self-evident that for his survival and development, man should have means of life and materials to consume. Economic life is a field of social life that provides for the material conditions necessary for man's survival and development.

Economic life materially guarantees political and cultural life.

Economic life, first of all, guarantees materially political life.

Only when self-sufficiency is achieved in economic life, can independence be ensured in political life. Economic subjugation leads to political subjugation.

Economic life also materially guarantees the development of cultural life. As the saying goes that "Meal comes before sightseeing", man's high cultural and aesthetic demands can be fully satisfied only when he is rich economically. Insufficient economic life means retarded development of cultural life.

Ideological and cultural life

Man is not satisfied only with food, clothing and housing. He is desirous of living a worthwhile, beautiful, noble and civilized life, with sound ideology and rich emotion and knowledge.

The field of social life that satisfies this mental demand of the people is the very ideological and cultural life.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said.

"Through their ideological and cultural life people develop their independent ideological consciousness and creative ability, satisfy a variety of their cultural and emotional needs and acquire noble mental and moral traits."

Ideological and cultural life of man includes his ideological life to acquire independent ideological consciousness and sound moral traits as well as cultural life to acquire knowledge and technique accumulated by humanity ,and cultivate physical strength and noble emotion.

Ideological and cultural life enables man to develop independent ideological consciousness and creative ability proper to the nature of social being and possess noble mental and moral traits.

Only with the independent ideological consciousness and creative ability, can man become an independent and creative social being and genuine master of his own destiny. Ideology and knowledge, however, are not inborn nor come of their own accord. Through their ideological and cultural life to train their ideology and learn, people can acquire and enhance their independent ideological consciousness and creative ability.

The genuine ideological and cultural life is possible only in socialist society.

In capitalist society, reactionary ideology and culture and corrupt bourgeois way of life are predominant, rendering people mental and physical cripples and spreading inhumane ideological and cultural life.

In socialist society, the sound ideology, culture and way of life of the working class are predominant, making people develop into more powerful beings and enjoy genuine ideological and cultural life.

In this society, people are armed with a high sense of independent ideological consciousness, namely, the socialist ideology, and live and work as required by the ideology, thus becoming genuine masters of their destiny.

The ideological and cultural life also meets the people's diverse cultural and emotional demands.

It is the characteristics of man that he has cultural and emotional demands.

The more he is free from the fetters of nature and society and the richer life he leads free from worries of food, clothing and housing, the higher and diversified the demands man has.

There are music and dance in man's life.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said that if there is no music in human life, it is like the garden without flowers.

Cultural and emotional life leads man to a noble mental world.

The genuine cultural and emotional life is possible only in socialist society.

In socialist society, art and literature are part and parcel of every man's life, so all people create and enjoy culture, leading a rich and diversified cultural and emotional life. The flourishing of man's noble feelings, emotions and beautiful traits is possible only in socialist society where people are masters of art and literature.

The ideological and cultural life takes a very important place in social life.

Since the political and economic lives are people's activities, their development depends on how well people are prepared. It is only when people become revolutionaries with a high sense of ideological consciousness and creative ability through the ideological and cultural life that they can become true masters of the state and society to create more material wealth and properly use it.

The political, economic and ideological and cultural lives are independent of one another, but they are closely interlinked. It is therefore necessary to develop these three fields in a uniform way so as to develop social life.

In this way the Juche philosophy established a correct view of social life, thus enabling people to have a deeper understanding of society.

4. There Has Been Societies of Different Characters in Human History

Since its birth, society has developed through the long course of history. In this course, different types of societies of different characters have been replaced by one another. It is therefore important in deepening the understanding of society to know the types of society and their characters.

Now we observe the question of character of society.

What is the character of society?

The character of society is the essential characteristics of a society in a certain stage of its development.

The nature of society means the essential characteristics of a society in relation to nature, whereas the character of society means the essential characteristics of a society in relation to other societies.

The societies that have existed in human history are divided into different types according to their characters.

The major criterion distinguishing the character of society is which class or which social collective takes the dominant position in the society.

The society where the exploiting class lords it over is exploiter one and the society where the people are its masters is socialist society. Even in exploiter society, the society where slave-holders hold the dominant position is slave-hold society and the society where feudal lords and landlords hold the dominant position is feudal society and the society where capitalists hold the dominant position is capitalist society.

Since the division of society into antagonistic classes, there have been continuous class struggle which replaced the dominant classes in societies. The class that took the dominant position in society changes the structure and looks of the society as it demands. It changes the mode of production and distribution of social wealth and sets up a new political structure and ideological and cultural institutions. At last, there appears a society of a different character. In this sense, it is said that the character of society is defined by which class or the collective holds the dominant position in it.

The character of society finds its expression in the character of social system. This is because the social position of a certain class or collective is defined and ensured by social system.

The class or collective that holds the dominant position in society sets up and consolidates a corresponding social system. In this way it finalizes its position on a social basis and guarantees it by means of the state authority and power. The dominant position that is not fixed and consolidated by means of the social system is like a castle on the loose sand.

That a class or collective holds the dominant position in a society means that a social system that regulates and ensures the position is set up. Therefore, the character of social system is the character of society, and social system and society sometimes have the same meaning.

What is the factor that defines the character of society?

The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung said that the character of a certain society is defined by which class has the power and how are the forms of property over the means of production.

Two problems should be solved if a class or collective is to take the dominant position in society. One is taking power and the other is possessing the means of production. The solution of these two problems decides the character of society.

The character of society is, first, decided by which class has seized power.

The class with power can control all members of the society according to its will and interests and set up and maintain the corresponding social system. On the contrary, the class without power are in the status of being socially subjugated and oppressed, having to lead a miserable life in the social system. The character of society is therefore decided by which class or collective has seized the power.

Capitalist society is reactionary and anti-popular in that it provides for the interests and pleasure of the capitalist class by exploiting and oppressing the people. This is because the capitalist class has seized the power. The socialist society is progressive and people-oriented in that it defends and ensures the interests of the people, free from exploitation and oppression of man by man. This is because the masses of the people are genuine masters of power.

The character of society is also defined by the ownership of the means of production.

As mentioned before, the means of production is material means with which to organize and perform the production of the goods necessary for the survival and development of man. Accordingly, who possesses the means of production in what form decides which class or collective takes the dominant position in economic life. Its institutional consolidation expresses the character of the society.

The society where there prevails private ownership of the means of production is exploiter society and the society where there prevails social ownership of the means of production is socialist society. The exploiter society is divided into slave-hold society, feudal society and capitalist society according to whose private ownership of the means of production prevails.

The form of ownership of the means of production is important in defining the character of society. But the basic factor that defines the character of society is the ownership of state power. This is because only by the class in power, can a social system of a new character be set up, and when the character of the social system is changed, the character of the society can be changed accordingly. This is proved by the fact that there appeared capitalist form of ownership of the means of production within the framework of the feudal society but the character of the society remained feudalistic without any changes until the capitalist class seized power.

What forms of society have existed in human history?

There have been different types of society of different characters in human history. They can be largely divided into three; primitive society where members of the society enjoy primitive equality, exploiter society where people are socially subjugated and socialist society where people are given the position of its genuine masters. Human society has developed through the process of these types of society having been replaced by one another in order.

The first type of society in human history was primitive society.

In primitive society, people formed clans or tribes through kinship and lived in equal social relations. They managed the society jointly through clan or tribal council, the political organization for the common interests of society.

They jointly shared the means of production, worked jointly and consumed the products jointly. In this society, there had been neither class, state, exploiter nor oppressor.

Primitive society is, in a nutshell, a society where there prevailed primitive equality among its members.

With the rise of class, primitive society that had lasted for millions of years began to be disintegrated and finally was replaced by the exploiter society.

In the exploiter society replacement took place: slave-hold society by feudal society and feudal society by capitalist society.

Slave-hold society was the first type of exploiter society after the fall of primitive society.

In slave-hold society, the major classes were slave-holders and slaves. The slave-holding class was the ruling class that seized the state power and the means of production. They possessed even the slaves, exploiting, purchasing and even killing them. The slaves were an exploited and oppressed class and no better than "talking tools" and "living goods".

In the society, there were free people like peasants and handicraftsmen along with slaves. They were not possessed, like slaves, by the slaveholders but they were severely oppressed and exploited by the slaveholders, gradually becoming slaves.

In this way the slaveholders seized the state power and the means of production and owned slaves.

Feudal society was another type of exploiter society born after the fall of slave-hold society.

Feudal society was based on the private ownership of land by feudal lords. Besides, there existed land which was cultivated by private labour and petty ownership of production tools by peasants and handicraftsmen. The society allowed landlords to purchase and punish the serfs but prohibited them from killing them.

Feudal society had caste system set up by the feudal landlords with an aim of maintaining their rule.

By the caste system, the oppression and exploitation by the ruling class and exploiting class became legalized and hereditary. Under the feudal caste system, the children of aristocrats naturally became aristocrats, although they were foolish, and the children of commoners could not escape from their caste, although they were clever. Feudal society is called "Dark Age" because there prevailed theological autocracy that imposed ignorance upon people as well as the inhuman caste system. Feudal society was an exploiter society where the feudal landlords wielded the state power and the means of production to subjugate and dominate the serfs and peasants by means of their position and society collapsed by the people's struggle against the feudalistic exploitation and caste subjugation.

Capitalist society is the last exploiter society emerged after the collapse of feudal society.

Since the emergence of capitalism, bourgeois scholars have embellished the society as a "kingdom of freedom and equality" and an "ideal society that ensures eternal justice". But the contradictions, corruptness and exploiting character of the society could not be concealed: it has become clear with the passage of time.

The society is reactionary and anti-popular in that a handful of the capitalist class monopolizes the state power and the means of production and exploits and oppresses the workers, peasants and other working masses in undisguised way.

It is "Heaven" for the minority of the ruling class but "hell" for the majority of the working people who suffer from starvation, poverty, hard labour and non-right. With the ever-intensifying capitalist exploitation, the phenomenon of "the rich getting richer" and "the poor getting poorer" is increasing. The billionaires in the Wall Street in the United States enjoy themselves spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for a banquet but the workers in Harlem suffer from starvation without even a loaf of bread.

Capitalist society is a reactionary society where individualism and mammonism prevail. Money-making and pleasure-seeking by individuals are regarded as the top ideal and goal and for this end every means is justified. One sacrifices another for his own sake, and all social evils cut a wide swath. Today, imperialists give wide publicity to the "superiority" and "material prosperity" of this society, but this is to cover their bloody law of jungle and the material poverty of the working people.

Capitalist society will surely collapse for its own contradictions and corruptness.

The society based on individualism inevitably brings about exploitation, oppression, money-making of the minority and poverty of the majority, class antagonism and inequality. This phenomenon reaches its extreme in capitalist society. Along with this, people's demand for independence develops and in increasing number of them launch into revolutionary struggle, eventually replacing the society with socialist society. It is law of historical development that the exploiter society based on individualism is replaced by socialist society based on collectivism.

Socialist society is a new type of society which is fundamentally different from the exploiter society.

Socialist society is a working class society and a people's society, where the masses of the people have seized the state power and the means of production and become masters of everything and where everything serves them. In this society, there exist genuine equality and harmony, free from exploitation and oppression of man by man. The people, in firm unity with a high sense of awareness and ability as masters, rapidly develop the society, leading and helping each other.

Socialist society is a lower stage of communist society. After the complete triumph of socialism, the society develops into communism. Communist society is the highest ideal society where man's independence is fully realized.

Today, imperialists and reactionaries are clamouring about the "setback" of the socialist movement and the "end" of socialism, but this is no more than sophism. Irrespective of the will and desire of the imperialists and reactionaries, socialism will win at last.

Of course, there are trials and temporary twists and turns on the road of socialist society. This is proved by the fall of socialism in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe. However socialism is a scientific doctrine that reflects most correctly the essential demand of man and a new advantageous society that emerged against the old and reactionary capitalism. It is historical inevitability that scientific truth emerges victorious and the new advances. The future of humanity is in socialism.

Socialism is advantageous but not all types of socialism are identical. The advantages find their expression in different ways according to which guiding ideology they follows.

The Korean-style socialism which was built, guided by the immortal Juche idea is the most advantageous and stable.

It is invincible as its leader, its Party and its people are united single- heartedly, and it is superior as it embodies the Juche character and the national character.

Its superiority and strength is proved by the fact that it is advancing vigorously without vacillation amidst the imperialist allied forces' vicious tricks to isolate and suffocate it.

The Juche philosophy clarifies the characters and types of society and thus gives a better understanding of what society is and what it consists of.