(iPoster) The God and the Prophet: Making Kim Il Sung and Ho Chi Minh Sacred

• In Event: Poster Session: Politics of Communist and Former Communist Countries (Asia)

Abstract

Cults of personality have played a significant role in the survival of authoritarian regimes worldwide. While various scholars have used Durkheim’s concept of rituality (repeating a certain behavior through collective behavior) as a tool to establish a cult of personality, the paper is unique in using his full concept of the sacred, of which rituality is only a part. It argues that despite often being classified as irrational, cults of personality are (1) methodical and (2) have variation in techniques and results. The paper employs the most-similar-systems design as its methodological framework. Specifically using secondary literature and Vietnamese primary literature, it analyzes how two authoritarian regimes, North Korea and Vietnam, constructed sacred figures from their founding fathers, Kim Il Sung and Ho Chi Minh, differently. It provides evidence for the methodical nature of cults of personality by showing that the two cults were created with clear and orchestrated techniques. It first analyzes similarities in strategies between the two cults in rooting the sacred in political writings and making the sacred ubiquitous. Already, it points out that the two cults diverge in degree. The paper then elaborates on how each regime uses different strategies: establishing a clear line of prohibition versus a lack thereof, essentializing sacredness by blood versus defamiliarizing sacredness, and forming an absolute versus a more lenient source of morality. The variation both in degree and in kind between the two cults results in their distinct implications. First, Kim’s cult achieved a personalistic legitimacy while Ho’s developed a collectivistic legitimacy for his party. Second, the public reception of Kim’s cult was mono-vocal, while Ho’s cult resulted in a multi-vocal reception. Third, while Kim’s cult played an important role in North Korea’s resistance to regime-threatening crises, the role of Ho’s cult in his Party’s survival was less imposing.

Author

• Thu Nguyen, McGill University