Do not worry comrade our generation can do it, we can learn, think, and revolt we will get there no matter if it is us or our childrens children
Very true. A lot of the scariest things about Marxism is how it came to restrict freedom of thought and freedom of religion and asserted the state had a right to define what people believed. Marxism most definitely needs to evolve with the times, but it is in such a lull that it is really hard to tell where, or even if, it is going anywhere in the long-run.
Well I believe that the theory of communism, socialism, anarchism needs to evolve with the times while learning from the past. I personally want to see people looking at the theory, thinking, then interperatating theory for todays world. Looking at Marx's world during the age of enlightenment one could easily call religion the opiate of the people for many of his friends were deist now one must conclude that secularism is the way to go as well as letting religious people contribute.
yeah. Marxism has similar problems to a 'religion' (though the comparison has it's limits because Marxism is atheist obviously). The scope for re-interpreting and 'revising' Marxism as a political ideology is limited before you run away into something completely different, if not hostile to Marxism. So it's hard to tell where the line is drawn between national conditions and historical necessary aspects of socialism in N. Korea's case. So far, the only way I've found of trying to draw a line between what is and isn't consistently revolutionary is through dialectics. I'm not outright for dialectical materialism, but certianly I can see how accepting the dialectic of class struggle makes Marxism-Leninism much more likely to be consistently revolutionary. What's your opinion on the use of Dialectical materialism? is it helpful?
Also I am not against adapting and tweaking Marxist-Leninism to a specific situation. I am against complete change of crucial parts of theory.
I think it is a mix of both not only does it strengthen the Kim dynasties personality cult it also improves its self-reliance. Ultimately it does need to be brought back to a more orthodox marxist style, not saying they should fully abandon their revision just tweak it
have you heard of Hwang Jang-yop. He's a defector to the South, Wikipedia credits him with "crafting" Juche. Just reading through it and he accused Kim Jong-il of "building feudalism not socialism"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwang_Jang-yop thought it might be of interest. Do you accept the idea of Juche as self-reliance or is it part of the revisionist personality cult around the Kim 'dynasty' (for lack of a better way of putting it)?
I believe in a way that it has fell because of the strict cult of personality and taking of power from the people caused by imperialism. The cult of personality where one leads through demands rather than guidance is a revison of true Marxist ideals
That makes sense. A very high portion of North Korea's economy is dedicated to the Military, so the external threat is a good reason and the paranoia is quite genuine. (I used to represent North Korea in a Model United Nations at uni). You said it "fell", do you think of it has 'degenerated' like Trotsky (most probably not), or is their a more specifically anti-revisionist way of putting it?
Well I defend north korea because I believe that it fell because of the sanctions and punishments implemented in the aftermath of the korean war. I also believe that they can move in a positive more socialist direction if the imperialist will leave them be hence Hands Off The DPRK
