Contradiction and Juche, Philosophical Deviations from Traditional Dialectical Materialism by Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong Necessitated by Socio-Political Conditions

Document Type

Social Sciences

Authors

Thomas BidewellFollow

Abstract

This work will attempt to attribute the deviations from the traditional Marxist dialectic in the cases of Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung to their necessitated governing philosophies, and thus their geopolitical conditions. In the case of Mao, this governing philosophy is ‘State-Building Socialism’, a hyper-materialist reappropriation of Marxist materialism crafted to raze internal cultural and economic hierarchy through isolating Contradictions, a rebranding of dialectics. In the case of Kim, a framework of ‘Ethnic Anti-Colonialism’ is adopted through the creation of Juche, an anti-materialist philosophy with references to Hegelianism to wrestle back the agency of ethnic Koreans against Imperialism.

Recommended Citation

Bidewell, Thomas (2023) "Contradiction and Juche, Philosophical Deviations from Traditional Dialectical Materialism by Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong Necessitated by Socio-Political Conditions," Global Tides: Vol. 17, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/globaltides/vol17/iss1/5