This study examines how different discourses about socialist transition came to converge on the radical transition theory in North Korea in the 1950s. After the Korean War, there were three main versions of discourses on socialist transition in North Korea: the theory of postponement of socialism, theory of speed regulation, and the theory of radical transition. These three main theories disagreed on two major issues: interpretations of Marxist-Leninist doctrine on the socialist transition and the prospect of unification with South Korea. However, as the Party’s Program underwent revision, the three different theories gradually converged on the theory of radical transition, which was later stipulated as the official one by the “April Thesis” in 1955. And yet soon another controversy over the theory of socialist transition was provoked again and this time by Kim Il-sung"s speech at the 3rd Party Congress in 1956. As a consequence, from the later months of 1956 and into the early 1957, numerous conferences were held at the Academy of Sciences and theories outside of the mainstream faced harsh criticisms. In the end, the debates settled as the founding of the People’s Committee of North Korea in February 1947 was established as the onset of socialist transition. Hence, this was the moment when North Korean socialism lost its dynamism; that is, it could no longer be considered as a form of science and practical theory with rooms open for criticism and debate.
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