The Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956-1957) was launched by Chairman Mao Zedong aimed at lifting up diverse views and investigation into possible solutions for the path forward for the newly established People’s Republic of China, and the People’s Democratic Dictatorship. It encouraged investigation, openness to new ideas, and, as Karl Marx said, ruthless criticism of all that exists.

In this spirit of letting a hundred flowers bloom, the HUNDRED FLOWERS SERIES focuses on investigating and republishing source materials on the various schools of thought existing within Marxism-Leninism, and the various approaches taken to Socialist governance and theory — Actually Existing Socialism.

This book gives the reader an introduction into the approach taken by Korean Communists.

The Juche idea has served as the guiding philosophy of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. First put forward by Kim Il Sung in his 1955 speech “On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work” following the successful defense of the revolution against NATO imperialism, the word Juche in Korean was derived from translating the works of Marx and other German philosophers.

Since 2012, under the leadership of Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism has been further developed and applied to Korean conditions, with the Juche philosophy and Songun policy at its core. With the emergence of the new multipolar world and the deepening desperation of the failing US empire, the achievements of the DPRK, guided by the Juche idea, are of unsurpassable importance both for Korean people, who remain under constant threat from US imperialism, and for revolutionaries around the world seeking the socialist path.