I’ve been speaking with other more informed communists and they’ve told me that none actually exist. Is this true?

China, Laos, and Vietnam: now notoriously capitalists. Workers work 12+ hours with no protection in horrible factory conditions. Suicide rates are so high that suicide nets are installed. The air is so polluted millions die from lung cancer, especially factory workers w/out basic masks. Corporations dominate

North Korea: Undemocratically ruled by the Kim dynasty. Jong un indulges lavishly at the expense of his citizens, ordering millions in fine wine and trips from Denis Rodman. They might be the most socialist though, as Juche seems to otherwise be democratic.

Cuba: Sanctions have taken a massive toll, but even taking that into account the country still has its own problems. They have massive food shortages and inventory probs and aren’t self sufficient after 60+ years. Why couldn’t they’ve use machinery imported from the Soviet Union to develop their agriculture and fishery? The Soviets supported them heavily. They seem to be incredibly mismanaged or corrupt

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1 point

So you do fundamentally agree that democracy is good, correct? And you would be opposed to a society where a ruling class pretended it was sanctioned by the working class, right?

Anyway, here are the 10 principles as they were originally written. How do you feel about them?

  1. We must give our all in the struggle to unify the entire society with the revolutionary ideology of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung.
  2. We must honor the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung with all our loyalty.
  3. We must make absolute the authority of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.
  4. We must make the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung’s revolutionary ideology our faith and make his instructions our creed.
  5. We must adhere strictly to the principle of unconditional obedience in carrying out the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung’s instructions.
  6. We must strengthen the entire party’s ideology and willpower and revolutionary unity, centering on the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.
  7. We must learn from the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung and adopt the communist look, revolutionary work methods and people-oriented work style.
  8. We must value the political life we were given by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung, and loyally repay his great political trust and thoughtfulness with heightened political awareness and skill.
  9. We must establish strong organizational regulations so that the entire party, nation and military move as one under the one and only leadership of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.
  10. We must pass down the great achievement of the revolution by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung from generation to generation, inheriting and completing it to the end.
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28 points

So you do fundamentally agree that democracy is good, correct?

I don’t think you really read what I wrote, lol. I said that the entire concept of what is democratic should be challenged and questioned.

And you would be opposed to a society where a ruling class pretended it was sanctioned by the working class, right?

You’d have to make this coherent with a class analysis. If the ruling class is pretending to have the support of the working class, i.e. is not itself of the working class, then what class is ruling? There is no general answer to this question, you must apply it to a real country with its class divisions.

Anyway, here are the 10 principles as they were originally written. How do you feel about them?

They make me feel… bored? They were/are a line taken against perceived discontent factions, with the figure of Kim Il-Sung used as a cudgel to say, “shut the fuck up”. I guess they also remind me of the silly things that ignorant Westerners believe about North Korea and of the power of choosing words during translation.

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1 point

Regarding your complaint about the 10 principles, can you demonstrate that they were not translated to your personal preference? And does that mean, as they are written, you do object to them?

I understand that their existence is extremely inconvenient to you, as you are attempting to fall back on liberal identity politics in order to ignore them. But I would prefer it if you didn’t attempt to dodge the question.

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31 points

I didn’t list a complaint. I’m just familiar with the fun that Westerners have with, for example, using the term “worship” when it is just as validly (arguably more valid given the lack of religious implications in general) translated as “respect” or “admire”. Westerners are very gullible, you see, and love to think of themselves as superior to the Asian hordes, which includes constructing cartoonish ideas of designated enemy countries.

None of that list is inconvenient for me, lol. You seem to be talking to yourself and hyping yourself up because you think you have a slam dunk and in the process are failing to read or understand what I’ve written. Remember, my answer to your question of how I feel about them is that it makes me bored. Perhaps you should take a little more time to read what is written before claiming anyone is dodging, lol.

It looks like you’re spamming this same question to others, seemingly without it being relevant to what they’re talking about. Have you considered addressing anything I wrote in the comment you initially replied to? You didn’t actually do that, you know.

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1 point

Can you be specific about what fundamental principles of democracy you question? You just said America doesn’t really have a democracy, so you were implying that more democracy would be a good thing.

So you don’t actually believe that? And if that’s the case, why did you signal as if you did? It seems pretty disingenuous to me

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21 points

Can you be specific about what fundamental principles of democracy you question?

I already wrote some out in my first reply to you. Do you have any thoughts on them?

You just said America doesn’t really have a democracy, so you were implying that more democracy would be a good thing.

Incorrect on both counts. What I did was say that the language and concept itself are laden with propaganda and selective or incomplete application, raising serious doubts about what it even means.

An interesting aspect to your responses here is that you’re repeatedly reading things that I didn’t say while not recognizing the things I did say. This is very relevant my attempt to head off simplistic acceptance of, say, “democracy”. The point is that there are a lot of propaganda narratives and unjustified (implicit) assumptions that tend to get made and your inability to have a conversation with me is a good example of this. You’re clearly trying to slot what I’m saying to you into your existing framework, a precious epistemology, even when it doesn’t really make sense. This is another thought pattern you’ll have to leave behind if you want to have correct opinions or even just be capable of talking to other humans about politics.

So you don’t actually believe that? And if that’s the case, why did you signal as if you did? It seems pretty disingenuous to me

Having made no effort to understand my pretty simple and direct statements, you’re deciding to blame me for your confusion, lol.

This situation is fairly simple: you think you’re here to “own” your perceived enemies and are now reaching at straws because it’s not going the way you hoped. Gotta find some way for me to be the bad guy, eh kid?

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weren’t these made during a liberation war?

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Anyway, here are the 10 principles as they were originally written. How do you feel about them?

That’s weird they wrote em in English

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1 point

No, what’s weird is you won’t answer my question.

Perhaps you know that on one hand, if you condemn these, you will have become an apostate in the eyes of North Korea stans…

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Condem what?, I have no idea what this is, or how it applies to DRPK governance. Some of the language is kinda sus but again its just standing alone out there, translated by whomever, and most importantly not written as legal language. Next you’ll be wanting me to condemn the word authority or some such nonsense. You keep posting this like it’s some sort of gotcha. The us constitution read uncritically seems nice but it is real shit.

Here read this for some commie law writing:

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1936/12/05.htm

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13 points

Why would you expect them to answer your questions? I was talking to you, not them.

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