We’ve all heard this one before. You tell someone that you’re a communist. Maybe they throw in that “human nature” bullshit. But sooner or later, you’ll be posed with this largely rhetorical question, “Why Don’t You Move To North Korea”.
Firstly, we should critically examine the circumstances in which this question is asked. It isn’t a refutation of Marxist theory, so it shouldn’t be treated as one. In fact, it has nothing to do with communism at all. It’s purely an argument of hypocrisy. When an anti-communist asks you this, they’ve basically acknowledged that communism wins. They are implicitly telling you that they’ve ran out of all other valid criticisms of the ideology that they have opted for a smaller target, specifically the person that “isn’t moving to the DPRK”.
It just so happens to be that we have a lot of responses to this.
- Socialism can only be successful in a long period of time on a global scale. Despite several revisionist trends, the DPRK has been successful at protecting socialism within its borders. As Marxist-Leninist-Maoists, it’s our duty to push forward the world revolution. We can fulfill that duty a whole lot more if we work to spread socialism rather than just living in an already socialist country.
- While we haven’t lost hope in any way, North Korea is a tad bit revisionist. If you wanted to have a fair bet with that anti-communist, you should have moved to China under Mao or the Soviet Union under Stalin. Turns out, there were some folks like Paul Robeson or Clarance Adams who did exactly that.
- Most people don’t have the ability to move such a long distance for such a silly reason. If you’re poor, you can only fit so much in a suitcase or a moving container that you might not have much left when you arrive in Pyongyang.
- The DPRK doesn’t let in people from the West for a good reason. If they did, there would be enough soldiers and spies to overthrow the Workers’ Party and restore capitalism. The government has created this measure because they know that protecting socialism is much more important than helping leftists in the West take dares from anti-communists.
- North Korea has a distinct national culture, just like any country should. Some people have no interest in learning Korean, don’t like K-Pop, and can’t stand Kimchi, and that’s fine. Marxism recognized that people can’t assimilate into a new culture so quickly, nor would they choose to do it most of the time.
- People are people. It’s human nature to not want to lose your family and friends. Apart from economics, there are other factors that make us more comfortable where we already are. This has absolutely nothing to do with politics or economics at all. We seek to improve our own countries by making them Marxist-Leninist-Maoist as we recognize that it’s really not the best decision to move to North Korea.
Next time someone asks you this question, you’ll hopefully be prepared. And with all of the anti-DPRK propaganda debunked, maybe you’ll come and visit one of these days!
Maoism For The Masses 