UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title From Soviet Origins to Chuch’e: Marxism-Leninism in the History of North Korean Ideology, 1945-1989 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/88w5d6zj Author Stock, Thomas Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles From Soviet Origins to Chuch’e: Marxism-Leninism in the History of North Korean Ideology, 1945-1989 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures by Thomas Stock 2018 © Copyright by Thomas Stock 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION From Soviet Origins to Chuch’e: Marxism-Leninism in the History of North Korean Ideology, 1945-1989 by Thomas Stock Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Namhee Lee, Chair Where lie the origins of North Korean ideology? When, why, and to what extent did North Korea eventually pursue a path of ideological independence from Soviet Marxism- Leninism? Scholars typically answer these interrelated questions by referencing Korea’s historical legacies, such as Chosŏn period Confucianism, colonial subjugation, and Kim Il Sung’s guerrilla experience. The result is a rather localized understanding of North Korean ideology and its development, according to which North Korean ideology was rooted in native soil and, on the basis of this indigenousness, inevitably developed in contradistinction to Marxism-Leninism. Drawing on Eastern European archival materials and North Korean theoretical journals, the present study challenges our conventional views about North Korean ideology. Throughout the Cold War, North Korea was possessed by a world spirit, a Marxist- Leninist world spirit. Marxism-Leninism was North Korean ideology’s Promethean clay. From ii adherence to Soviet ideological leadership in the 1940s and 50s, to declarations of ideological independence in the 1960s, to the emergence of chuch’e philosophy in the 1970s and 80s, North Korea never severed its ties with the Marxist-Leninist tradition. On the contrary, this tradition constituted the basic and most fundamental raw material from which North Korean ideology was shaped and developed. The evolution of North Korean ideology was not predetermined by Korea’s historical legacies. Rather, a convergence of historically immediate domestic and international factors led to the emergence of an independent ideology, an ideology that despite its independence from Soviet ideological suzerainty remained situated within a global Marxist- Leninist intellectual space. Though many scholars have argued otherwise, even chuch’e philosophy, the apex of North Korean ideological particularity during the Cold War, was hardly an idealism and instead quite reminiscent of a good old-fashioned Marxist-Leninist materialism. iii The dissertation of Thomas Stock is approved. John Duncan David Sabean Christopher P. Hanscom Namhee Lee, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION....................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................................ vii VITA.............................................................................................................................................. ix INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 The State of the Literature: Indigenousness and Chuch’e-Centrism.................................. 3 De-Polarizing: The Problem of Marxism-Leninism......................................................... 11 Historical Immediacy, Rationality, and Sublation............................................................ 14 The Problem of Ideology.................................................................................................. 16 Comparative Perspectives and Source Material............................................................... 20 Chapter Overview............................................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER I – THE SOVIET ORIGINS OF NORTH KOREAN IDEOLOGY (1945-55) ...................................................................................................................................... 24 The Leninist Legacy......................................................................................................... 25 North Korean Ideology Under Stalin................................................................................ 32 1955: The Academic Debate Surrounding Kim Il Sung’s December Speech.................. 46 CHAPTER II – THE PROBLEM OF SOVIET IDEOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP (1956-61) ...................................................................................................................................... 64 The Impact of the 20th CPSU Congress........................................................................... 66 When and Why North Korea Finally Rejected Soviet Ideological Leadership................ 83 Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 110 v CHAPTER III – CONFLICTING UNIVERSALITIES: FRATERNAL CRITICISMS, NORTH KOREA’S CONTESTATION OF SOVIET IDEOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP, AND INSULATION (1962-67).................................................................................................. 112 Surveying Fraternal Criticisms....................................................................................... 113 Charyŏk kaengsaeng and the Issue of Nationalism........................................................ 116 The Personality Cult and Ideological Insulation............................................................. 129 The Chuch’e Problem..................................................................................................... 136 Beyond Heterodoxy: A Conclusion................................................................................ 155 CHAPTER IV – CHUCH’E SASANG AND THE MARXIST-LENINIST TRADITION: BEYOND THE MYTH OF NORTH KOREAN IDEALISM (1968-89) .................................. 160 Silencing Marx: North Korea’s Humanism.................................................................... 163 Materialism, Consciousness, and North Korean Ideology.............................................. 172 Marxist-Leninist Leadership Conception and North Korean Ideology.......................... 187 Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 193 FINAL THOUGHTS ................................................................................................................. 196 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 204 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My sincerest gratitude goes to my advisor, Namhee Lee. Without her unwavering professional and intellectual support, this dissertation would not have been possible. From acquiring research opportunities to navigating the academic landscape, she has always been there for me. I am also thankful to John Duncan for his many insights and career support. I especially owe my understanding of Marxism in colonial Korea to his guidance. David Sabean, too, played a vital role in the completion of this dissertation. I am particularly appreciative of his thorough editing assistance. Special thanks go to Christopher Hanscom for his feedback and support and John McCumber for having inspired my fascination with Hegel. Finally, I wish to express my indebtedness to Michael Robinson, my former advisor at Indiana University, Bloomington. I would never have made it to UCLA without his support and encouragement. In this light, I also owe thanks to Heon Joo Jung, who facilitated my research in South Korea and was always ready to help me. Without the generous financial support of UCLA’s Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the Center for Korean Studies, I would not have been able to conduct graduate studies. In terms of research abroad, I am again thankful to UCLA’s Center for Korean Studies. I additionally received generous research funding from the Korea Foundation, the Association for Asian Studies, the Academy of Korean Studies, and the UCLA International Institute. Since this study uses a lot of East German and North Korean materials that I was only able to collect due to research stays in Germany and South Korea, I cannot stress enough the impact their support had on the quality of this dissertation. Thus I am also indebted to the supportive staff at the Federal Archives in Berlin and at the North Korea Information Center in Seoul. vii I am further obliged to many of my colleagues, who have supported or inspired me in one way or the other. Matthew Lauer’s company provided me with many intellectual challenges, Hyoungkun Kim helped me get settled in South Korea, and Elli S. Kim assisted me wherever she could. I thank all of them as well as whomever I failed to mention here. Most importantly, I am thankful to my family. Especially my mother helped me get through difficult financial times and personal crises. I hope that she can feel relief and pride in the completion of this dissertation.