My dissertation researches and examines the process on the reorganization and refreshment of the Mass Movement Line in the 1970s which the North Korean’s prototype in the Mass Movement was set up in. North Korea faced economic crisis in the developm...
My dissertation researches and examines the process on the reorganization and refreshment of the Mass Movement Line in the 1970s which the North Korean’s prototype in the Mass Movement was set up in. North Korea faced economic crisis in the development process around that period and began in earnest their new strategy “Three-Revolution Movement”, which is totally different from the traditional “Chollima Movement”. That means that the Mass Movements in North Korea are strongly related to the nation’s development strategies. The reason why this research focuses on the relationship between the development strategies and the Mass Movements led by the government is that this Mass Movement was a sort of strategies for breakthrough of the economic crisis and it was designed for increased productivity as a solution to overcome the crisis. Contemporary researches on the Mass Movement North Korea focus only on political theories such as establishment of Kim Il-Sung’s Suryoug System or Kim Jong-il’s Regime, but little evaluation on overcoming the crisis as a main propose. Most suggest that the Mass Movement is one of main factors in the economic depression. In my view, these analyses have the limit of overlooking the meaning of the Mass Movement in North Korea by examining it without keeping the limitation of the development process in the North Korea system and problems of the Mass Movement separate.
I suggest that the economic crisis is not from the limitation of mobilization to the Mass Movement but the limitation of the development system itself. I examine general problems resulted from the development system and strategies of factual socialism applying the concept “routinization of Catch-up Development System”. Factual socialism had institutionalized and stabilized the Catch-up Development System by adopting the strategy of heavy industries’ preference and establishing its institutions, but after a dynamic force for its growth was exhausted and faced crisis on the development. I define this entire process to the concept “routinization of Catch-up Development System”.
Factual socialism has common limitations on the development process which were led by the inflexible ruling system, such as distorting the allocation of resources, wasting the means of production, lacking motivations for innovation and so on. Facing this crisis, new development strategy that highly regards equilibrium rather than speed was required. In a result, factual socialism adopted the view of pragmatism providing market forces and some factors from Capitalism. This change led factual socialism to the phase for reforms and open-door policy and subsequently the system transition phase from the 1980s to the1990s and eventually the breakdown of Communism. In other words, factual socialism has the limitation from the system itself which keeps from growth and development and failed to overcome crisis.
This “routinization of Catch-up Development System” came alive in North Korea like other socialist countries. “Dispute about a transition period” in the late of the 1960s is requirement of a new development strategy. Purging the opposition forces, the government attributed causes of the crisis to problems of the bureaucracy which had the old way of thinking such as mysticism of technology and of “individual consciousness(思想, Sa-sang)” originated from the public who lost their passionate for revolution. Based on this analysis, the government keeping the traditional Catch-up Development System reestablished the Mass Movement Line in the 1970s and started “Three-Revolution Movement”. It was necessary that the government create the motivation for innovation and solve old technical problems and lack of capital in order to keep developing the system without motivations. The main propose in “Three-Revolution Movement” is to overcome the economic problems in the North Korean system and the government focused on “individual consciousness”. This strategy that underline individual consciousness shows that this Mass Movement is one of the most important features of the Mass Movement in North Korea. By educating and raising “individual consciousness” according to the guideline of the party, the government systematized the mass line as a party leadership lime for Mass Movement. For example, “Cheongsanri Mental and Cheongsanri Method” was systematized as a “New Agricultural Guidance System” in an agricultural sector and “Daean’s Business System” in an industrial sector. In this process, Mass Movement in North Korea had gradually changed from temporary and complementary level for motivation to economy management system. This response is for improving the systematic problem of Catch-up Development System in the 1960s. This is a North Korea’s response to the factor of “routinization of Catch-up Development System”.
The way of establishing the direct guidance system of the party is to organize and dispatch “Three-Revolution Team” to the production field and this Mass Movement contributed the direct connection between the party and the public. Unlike the Conllima Movement in which Work Grop played a main role in the practice, “Three-Revolution Movement” was directly led by party in terms of strong and direct guidance to lower work groups.
This process was developing with overlapping the process of establishment for monolithic leadership system and Kim Jong-il’s Regime and contributed for the foundation of political power. As it mentioned, the Mass Movement in North Korea complemented and overcome the inner limit in the economic system, which is highly centralized and planified, and also supported the foundation of political power.
However, the government's response to limits of development by reorganizing the Mass Movement Line under the Catch-up Development System in the 1970s is not a fundamental solution for the systematic factors in planned economy. Although it rather than functioned for reforcing centralized authoritarian system, the government which could not have other choices following the territorial division tried both to enhance its regime and to overcome economic crisis with the Mass Movement. This Mass Movement contributed to slow the economic depression by continuously reforming the organization for the Mass Movement and elaborating the contents.
It eventually acted as a supporter the system. That is why the government focuses on the importance of Mass Movement whenever faces the economic crisis. In addition, the Mass Movement in North Korea will play the political and economic role for overcoming crisis changing practices as occasion demands and will contribute to support the system.