“I see you haven’t drawn it to scale,” one of the architects said.
“I most certainly have!” I took out a ruler and quickly did the arithmetic. “The sculpture will be twenty meters, which would make the entire tower 130 meters high. And now we have to figure out where in Pyongyang to build it.”
Seeing a sketch on a piece of paper was one thing. Knowing what the tower would look like in person was another matter—and knowing how it would look from different parts of the city another matter still. I couldn’t accurately visualize the effect of such a giant stone tower by using imagination alone. I needed to try and approximate it as best I could before approving the project’s site.
The focal point of the tower would be the giant torch structure at its tip, something that I could easily make a facsimile of. I procured a spool of spring and cut it to precisely 130 meters, the tower’s height. At the end of the string I did something quite simple and yet innovative: I tied a balloon.
The people of Pyongyang couldn’t help but stare as I walked around the city with a big red balloon, journeying to every potential construction site. When I got to each spot I fastened the string in place, let the balloon fly and looked up to approximate how the tower would appear from its base. Then, I crossed the nearest street and looked at it from there. Finally I went into other parts of the city, looking at the balloon from the perspective of every one of Pyongyang’s many landmarks. I looked at it from Kim Il Sung Square, and then from the rostrum at the square. I looked at it from the viewing balcony of the Grand People’s Study House and from a boat on the Taedong River. The process took me hours.
I’d intended for the tower to be visible from every part of Pyongyang. But try as I might, I couldn’t quite achieve my goal. No matter where I placed the balloon in the city, it was either hidden by some other building or the overall effect was somewhat less than what I’d intended. Frustrated, I returned to my office to reexamine every aspect of the tower’s construction. Then I realized what was wrong: the tower simply wasn’t high enough.
I called up the architects, telling them to rework the sketches to make the tower higher. The following day, I came to their office and examined what they’d come up with. “The work was slightly tricky,” explained one architect, “since we had to maintain seventy layers while extending the tower. But once built, this will be the second-tallest stone tower in the world!”
I considered both the drawing and what he said. “What if we make it several meters higher than even that?” I suggested. “What if we make it the tallest stone tower?”
The architects all looked at each other, dumbfounded. “We’d never even considered such a thing. You mean to say, instead of making it the second-tallest tower in the world, to make it the tallest? Isn’t that too bold?”
“I’ll soon find out! Get me a balloon, and a string that is 170 meters long.” Now, having determined the correct height for the tower, it became a simpler matter to find the best location. Within a day, I picked a spot on the bank of the Taedong River that ran through the center of the city. The site perfectly fit all the qualifications that I’d set out.
Soon, the news that I proposed building the Tower of the Juche Idea spread across the continents. Foreigners vied with one another to send high-quality stones to aid in its construction and decoration. The list of donors came from all walks of life: heads of state, prominent culture personages and even common people who advocated the Juche idea. The DPRK received world-famous jade from Pakistan, the best marble ever produced in Burkina Faso and over five hundred pieces of high-quality stone from Portugal. The granite sent from Italy was said to be able to withstand weathering for a thousand years. Other nations sent over one hundred kinds of valuable trees and flowers, as well as a set of mowers and snowplows for use around the tower.
On April 15, 1982 two more of Pyongyang’s definitive monuments were unveiled. The first, Korea’s Arch of Triumph, was located at the very square where General Kim Il Sung made his triumphant return to Pyongyang after defeating the Japs. The arch consisted of one stone block for every day of the Great Leader’s seventy years of life. It also, I’m proud to point out, stands ten meters higher than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Of course, being bigger than the French one didn’t necessarily make ours better—but it certainly didn’t make it worse. The second monument, the Tower of the Juche Idea, was the world’s highest stone tower, one meter higher than the American monument to General Washington. Both the monuments were built in the Juche style: the Arch of Triumph looks exactly like the one in Paris, but in fact was inspired by the stone pagodas that are peculiar to Korea. Similarly, the Tower of the Juche Idea strongly resembles the Washington Monument but is actually fashioned after a traditional Korean wall gate.
Every single decision which I’d made regarding the building of the tower—my suggestion that it should be dedicated to a human concept, which was unprecedented in the history of monumental architecture; my selection of the site on a bank of the Taedong River, which even the professionals had not considered; my choice of its height—all these were beyond conventional architectural practice. Yet seeing the tower lit up confirmed all my decisions. The tower could, indeed, be seen from all parts of the world.
The day the two monuments were unveiled was the greatest celebration that Korea had seen in decades. Tears of joy streamed down people’s cheeks as songs of loyalty echoed throughout the country. Never had the Korean people felt stronger national confidence and pride. Many foreign delegates and dignitaries attended the affair, and all of them were deeply struck by the ever-growing domestic and international status of President Kim Il Sung. To a man, the foreigners had many questions about the Juche idea. It was something very difficult for a non-Korean to understand, of course, but still their interest couldn’t be any higher.
I couldn’t blame the guests for their enthusiasm, since the Great Leader’s brilliance spoke for itself. Thanks to his love, the masses now lived in a dream-like nation with their health and life firmly guaranteed. They enjoyed their prime at the age sixty and lived to celebrate their ninetieth birthdays. Long gone were the years of sadness where people became unable to work before their time, and when diseases claimed the lives of so many.
The constant questions about Juche made me more keenly aware than ever how much every person in the world longed to visit Korea to witness the miracle that the Great Leader had wrought. Obviously, that would be an impossibility for many of them—nor did we want hordes of tourists to come, spreading AIDS and polluting our land. But if they couldn’t come to Korea, I could still bring Korea to them. Specifically, I could bring them our ideas, including our most original and precious one.
Bourgeois writers often slandered communists, claiming that we underestimated the importance of ideology due to communism’s materialist basis. But no one in the world placed a higher value on ideology than the people of the DPRK. Following the Great Leader, we believe that the correct idea makes everything possible—and other nations increasingly agreed.
By this point, progressive world organizations and members of the international press had already inaugurated committees for translating and publishing the works of President Kim Il Sung. Juche study organizations had been formed in nearly every country in the world, starting with the Group for Study of Works of Comrade Kim Il Sung that was organized in 1969 in Mali. In 1980 alone, for example, his works were published in fifty languages with over twenty-four million copies in print, carried in over one thousand newspapers and magazines in 124 different countries.
Ever since the first international seminar on the Juche idea was held in 1971 in Beirut, Juche became the guiding idea for many people of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. International forums were hosted by such prominent countries as Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Peru, Madagascar and Malta. These academic symposiums were as large in scale as any in human history.
In mere decades, I had watched Juche turn into one of the most beautiful international terms, one synon
ymous with a thirst for a dignified life. The world’s most intelligent and conscientious people were summoned by the beacon of Juche—and the most beautiful dreams and ideals were coming true under the banner of Juche, the most brilliant idea in the history of man’s thinking. There was no revolutionary idea in all of history which won so many minds and hearts in such a short period of time.
Because of all this, President Kim Il Sung had constantly been asked by many heads of state to write a book on the Juche idea for the people of the world. At the birthday celebration the requests for such a treatise were incessant to the point of annoyance. Many even praised him as the most outstanding thinker and political leader of the twentieth century, but found themselves unable to grasp the depth, width and height of his thinking in an integrated way. Unfortunately, the Great Leader hadn’t considered formalizing the idea. He was too busy devoting his life to revolutionary practice, and was uninterested in seeking out ideological and theoretical authority for himself.
Seeing the light atop the Tower of the Juche Idea, hearing all the excited questions from foreign visitors, made me realize that I had to do his work for him. It was certain that systematizing the Great Leader’s teachings would result in a highly persuasive, influential and famous work. Whatever President Kim Il Sung said was logical like a philosopher, expressive like a writer and grounded in experience like a historian. The elucidation of the Juche idea would be far greater than the discovery of fire. With that in mind, I wrote the most important work of my life: On the Juche Idea.
ON THE JUCHE IDEA
The Juche idea takes a different starting point from previous philosophies. It maintains that the fundamental question of philosophy concerns man’s position and role in the world, and it argues that “man is the master of everything and decides everything.” That “man is the master of everything” refers to the position which man takes in the world. He makes the world serve him according to his will and isn’t subject to that which surrounds him. That “man decides everything” means that he is a being who is responsible for his destiny and shapes it accordingly.
But what is meant by “man”?
Many philosophers tried to define man as “the thinking being,”“the talking being” or “the working being.” There is no doubt that thought, speech and labor are qualities that are unique to man. But identifying unique qualities does not explain where those qualities come from. Far from demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of man’s essential nature, such definitions simply refer to one aspect of man’s activities. Worse, they presuppose man’s destiny as that of an individual divorced from both the objective world and the social collective.
The Juche idea holds that man is a being who can only live socially. Someone born with a human body and mind will not grow up to act as a human being if he doesn’t live in a human social system. At the most extreme are stories of abandoned children raised by wolves. Once found, they are never able to adjust to human society. Conversely, the archetypical man trapped on a desert island—the very symbol of being isolated from society—can grow grains, raise domestic animals and fashion a raft because of his social upbringing. No one doubts that a man who leaves society and stays away from it for a long time will lose the qualities peculiar to man and begin to degenerate.
Unlike plants and animals, who must be subordinated to their surroundings, it is man and man alone who can dominate and transform his environment. The mechanism by which man does this—and therefore man’s proper mode of existence—is via unity and cooperation. The Juche idea affirms that man is a totality of social relations. While nature gives man biological attributes, it is society that provides him with social attributes.
The man-first doctrine holds that everything in the world is of significance and has value only insofar as it meets the needs and interest of man, because man is the master of the world and the most precious thing in the world. As such, he has the right to make everything in the world serve him.
Man’s physical life keeps him biologically alive, but his sociopolitical integrity grants him immortality as a social being—a far more precious life. Man’s physical life ends upon his death, yet the social collective—the matrix of political integrity—survives eternally. Therefore, even if man’s body might perish, his soul lasts forever with his collective. This is why a life’s value is assessed according to what contribution it makes to its society, its collective and its neighborhood—but not to itself.
This is why the life of the man who lived only for himself, detached from his society and his collective, has no value—he hadn’t met the needs and interest of man, the social being. A man who is deserted by society lives physically but is like a dead man socially. If he made no contribution to society and the collective, leaving nothing behind, then his life was literally meaningless.
Man’s essential characteristics, those which are unique and basic to him, are independence, creativity and consciousness. All three are basic elements of man’s nature as a social being. Man can therefore be correctly defined as “an independent social being,” “a creative social being” and “a conscious social being.” Independence means a desire to live as master of the world and one’s own destiny. With independence man opposes all sorts of restrictions and subjugation in both nature and society, making everything serve him. Creativity means the ability to transform the world and purposefully shape one’s own destiny. With creativity man harnesses nature to create conditions favorable for his life, as well changing natural phenomena into means useful for his livelihood. Consciousness means regulating one’s activities as one reshapes the world and oneself. With consciousness man acquires the viewpoint and attitude of solving all questions through one’s own resourcefulness. All three qualities are highly interrelated and inseparable, and are only acquired when man becomes a social being.
Given that man is a social being possessed of independence, creativity and consciousness, what type of society best allows these attributes to flourish? What sort of society is most in tune with man’s nature? A world apart from man, or a society without people, is senseless. Therefore, the interests of the people must be at the top of all values. This is another profound innovation put forth by the Juche idea. Though there have been countless philosophies in human history, none has held that man sits at the top of all values. The society best suited for man is one with the broadest support possible: a classless society with maximal unity and cohesion.
The masses have been the basis of society since the dawning of mankind. Khufu’s Great Pyramid is a magnificent stupendous structure composed of approximately 2,500,000 limestone blocks averaging 2.5 tons in weight. It was the strength and wisdom of the slaves that built such a wonder of the ancient world. In every country and nation, the popular masses—the embodiment of the Juche idea—are the masters of history and the mechanism by which their respective societies develop. A society suited to man’s nature is one that recognizes that the motive force of revolution and construction is the masses.
In a class society, the interests of the people are opposed to each other. The ruling exploiting class possesses state power and establishes policies in its interests, organizing and commanding the people’s activities in order to meet them. To cover this up, the ruling class claims that its politics is oriented toward “equality” and aimed to secure “justice.” A truly free society opposes individualism and egotism, recognizing these as tools by the exploiting class to destroy the people’s ideological unity and cohesion.
In a socialist society, there are no antagonistic classes and the people are the masters of society. Politics organizes and commands the masses in a coordinated manner to realize their desire and needs. The emphasis is put on educating people so that they set forth correct aims and demands—based on their being masters of the state and society—as well as on organizing and mobilizing them so that they play a creative role in revolution and construction. The entire history of class societies has been a series of struggles between these two types, between
the creators of history and those reacting against them—that is, between the working masses and the exploiting class. Since the exploiting class is a reaction against history, they are appropriately the target of revolution.
As independence is the life and soul of man, so is independence—living in one’s own way—the life and soul of a nation. Living “in our way” mean’s acting true to one’s principles and solving problems by one’s own efforts. Those solutions and the methods behind them are also derived “in our way” from the specific conditions of one’s own country. This does not mean contempt for other nations, nor is it an assertion of one’s superiority. All nations have their own creative wisdom and capacity in their own way. The Juche nation-first doctrine is inseparable from respect for other nations, and is diametrically opposed to exclusionary patriotism—a function of fascism and dominationism.
It is an independent national socialist economy that maximizes the characteristics of independence, creativity and consciousness, and this is the only type of society that is fully in line with man’s nature. This means building an economy which stands on its own feet without being subordinated to other countries, an economy oriented to serving one’s own people with they themselves using their own nation’s resources. This does not mean building an economy in isolation. An independent economy is opposed to foreign domination but does not rule out international cooperation. Cooperation between nations plays an important part in ensuring economic self-sufficiency and in increasing economic power.
Only a powerful coordinating force can create such a highly organized society. It is only feasible when the nation is united around the leader, both in thought and in purpose. As masters of society, the masses can advocate their opinion until such policies are established. But when the leader, the party and the masses are in genuine cohesive unity, the policies that ensue will reflect the masses’ will. Such policies can only be successfully implemented under the leader’s unified guidance, working through the masses for the sake of the entire nation. Therefore, the masses must follow those policies after they’re decided on, since those decisions comprehensively express the masses’ will. This is not authoritarianism, a scenario where leaders don’t believe in the people and fail to win their trust. Rather, this is the meaning to saying that “man is the master of everything and decides everything.” This is the meaning of the Juche idea.
Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il Page 23
