The speech titled 'LET US EMBODY THE REVOLUTIONARY
SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE, SELF-SUSTENANCE AND SELF-DEFENCE MORE THOROUGHLY IN ALL
BRANCHES OF STATE ACTIVITY' was delivered by President Kim Il Sung to the First
Session of the Fourth Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK on December 16th
1967. The work sets out the political programme of the DPRK and the ideas
contained in it form the basis of Juche Korea’s policy. It is an extremely
comprehensive speech, so I will only summarise its main points.
President Kim Il Sung starts by asserting that the
DPRK should thoroughly implement the line of independence, self-sustenance and
self-defence to consolidate the political Chajusong of the country. This will
in turn strengthen the foundations of an independent national economy capable
of ensuring the complete reunification, independence and prosperity of Korea.
He makes it clear that these goals can only be achieved by establishing the
Party’s idea of Juche in all fields. Indeed, the DPRK has been able to achieve
great victories and successes in the revolutionary struggle and construction
work, because it has persistently tried to solve all problems independently.
Kim Il Sung states that the Korean people should not follow others blindly, but
instead they must appraise foreign ideas critically instead of unreservedly
copying or accepting them without question. The DPRK strives to solve all
problems according to the conditions that exist in the country rather than
looking to outside big powers for ideas. Thus, only by firmly establishing
Juche was the DPRK able to repudiate flunkeyism towards great powers as well as
dogmatism.
Kim Il Sung argued that the concept of independence
must equally apply to question of Korean reunification. He was clear that
Koreans must regard all attempts to affect the country’s reunification by
relying on outside forces as treacheries against the nation aimed at placing
the whole of Korea in the hands of foreign aggressors. The question of Korean
reunification is an internal affair of the Korean people, one which cannot be
settled by any outside forces. He explores this issue further by asserting that
it is the DPRK’s duty to force the US imperialist aggressors out of Korean
territory, liberate south Korea and reunify the country by combining their
strength with that of the south Korean people. Kim Il Sung’s greatest aim in
the speech and throughout his life was to bring about national reunification.
This task is still in the process of being accomplished as south Korea today
has been completely turned into a colony and military base of the US
imperialists. This speech highlights that the national industry of south Korea
has been reduced to dependency on foreign capital, and its agriculture is also
in a serious state of crisis. In addition, the national culture and the
beautiful customs inherent in the Korean people have been utterly trampled
underfoot.
Kim Il Sung further elaborates that the idea of
independence should be adopted by every country as all nations are equal and
have the sacred right of national self-determination. That means deciding their
own destinies for themselves. A nation can secure independence, freedom,
happiness and prosperity only if it achieves complete political
self-determination and controls its own economy. He clarifies that economic
independence is the material foundation for political independence. A country
which is economically dependent on outside forces becomes a political satellite
of other countries.
However, economic construction can only be continued
by at the same time building up the DPRK defences. Comrade Kim Il Sung confirms
that the DPRK will always give substance to the Party’s spirit of self-defence
by thoroughly preparing the people and soldiers for war, both politically and
ideologically. He said that an independent national economy provides the basis
for increasing military power. Kim Il Sung’s goal was to strengthen the DPRK’s
capabilities to such an extent that the KPA would be in a position to defend
the security of the country on the basis of its own strength. In order to repel
imperialist aggression Kim Il Sung wanted to create a firm unity between the
army and people. To this end he ordered that the KPA should serve the country
and the people. The entire people should in turn love and aid the KPA. By
following this doctrine, the soldiers and people developed a spirit of unity
between them. In case of emergency, Kim Il Sung envisaged that the whole nation
should unite as true revolutionary comrades and fight with single-hearted
devotion in order to safeguard the DPRK and the gains of the revolution. One of
the basic functions of a socialist state is to keep increasing its defence
capabilities while going ahead with economic construction. The imperialists
continue to perpetrate acts of aggression and plunder and, as long as
imperialism exists, the threat of war will not disappear. Under these
circumstances, Kim Il Sung argues that the Korean people can only protect the
gains of the revolution against imperialist aggression and preserve the
security of the people by reinforcing the DPRK’s defences.
If the masses are to defend the revolution they must
first feel the benefits of living in a working-class society. Interest in
promoting the people’s well-being is the supreme principle governing the activities
of the DPRK according to President Kim Il Sung. He said that the battle to
build socialism and communism is aimed, in the final analysis, at fully
satisfying the material and cultural demands of all the people and providing
them with a rich and cultured life.
In order to build socialism and communism Kim Il
Sung saw it necessary to carry out a vigorous campaign to revolutionize and
working-classize the peasants, intellectuals and all other members of society
by further stepping up the ideological education. The ideological revolution
was intensified so as to root out all the remnants of outmoded bourgeois
ideology that still existed in the minds of the people at the time when the
speech was delivered. The most important thing in revolutionizing and working-classizing
all the members of society through the ideological revolution is to firmly arm
the people with the policies of the WPK and thoroughly establish the Party’s
monolithic ideological system among them. Only when all the working people were
revolutionized and working-classized through the promotion of the ideological
and cultural revolutions would it be possible to successfully build Juche
socialism and accomplish the revolutionary cause of reunifying the country. According
to Kim Il Sung once the whole of society had been imbued with the Juche idea
would the people become resistant all unsound, counter-revolutionary ideology, such
as revisionism, “Left” opportunism, flunkeyism to great powers, bourgeois
ideas, feudal Confucian ideas, factionalism, parochialism, and nepotism. The
primary targets of the struggle to revolutionize people were individualism and
egoism, which were a legacy from the exploiter classes. He expresses his desire
to cultivate among the working people the collectivist spirit. In this way, the
needs of the collective are placed above personal interests.
The struggle to proliferate working-class ideas
throughout society is the job of WPK and state officials. Kim Il Sung warned
that bureaucrats should never become divorced from the masses. He was adamant
that all state officials are workers selected by the people and they are the
servants of the people. They should never forget that their job is to protect
the interests of the workers, peasants and the rest of the working people and
serve them. In order to eliminate bureaucracy and establish the revolutionary
mass viewpoint, he wanted all officials to acquire the revolutionary work
method of mixing widely amongst the masses by consulting them. Kim Il Sung’s
guidance in this speech ensured that the WPK has always been a mass party
because it did not become alienated from the working class. Many communist parties
in other countries because estranged from the people and socialism was
overthrown by reactionary forces. However, Kim Il Sung’s insistence that
officials must strictly follow the Chongsanri method in their activities has
meant that the WPK is centre of life in the DPRK. Therefore, this speech
recognises that the speed at which socialism is built depends in part on the
unity of the people and party. This relationship is pivotal as it shows that
the WPK looks to the Korean masses and not outside influences for inspiration.
This demand for DPRK independence in the speech does
not rule out economic relations and trade with other countries. However, any
economic relations with other countries must be based on the principles of
proletarian internationalism, complete equality and mutual benefit. Thus, the
development of an independent, comprehensive economy in DPRK through Korean
efforts does not imply that the DRPK should reject international economic ties
or that it produces everything for itself. Kim Il Sung emphasised that the DPRK
should develop the relations of trade and commercial exchange with all
countries which have different social systems if they respect DPRK sovereignty
and want to have economic ties with the Juche Korea. The economic business
relations of socialist countries with capitalist countries, however, should
always be of secondary importance in foreign trade and should not be made the
basis of their economic relations with foreign countries. This lesson about
focusing on socialist development rather concentrating on trading with
capitalist countries should be headed by a certain big power that likes to claim
it is still socialist. Using this Juche based model for external economic
relations Kim Il Sung was able to warn against entering into imperialist
dominated trade networks. The imperialists pursue a policy of enslaving other
countries economically by offering “aid” as bait and then riding roughshod over
the sovereignty of those countries. The “European Common Market”, the
“integration of the world economy” and the like, loudly advertised by the
imperialist powers today, all pursue the heinous, aggressive aims of strangling
the economic independence of states and subordinating these countries to
imperialist rule.
Kim Il Sung stated that imperialism can only be
defeated by all progressive countries uniting. The speech makes us aware that it
is the internationalist duty of communists to do all that they can to support each
other in the battle against imperialism, their common enemy, and each country
should strive to strengthen this international solidarity in the struggle
against imperialist forces. This address confirms that the DPRK will continue
to strengthen and develop these relations of friendship with foreign countries
and strive to make more friends throughout the world. It was and is committed
to aiding anti-imperialist struggles around the globe. At the time this speech
was given the Vietnamese people were fighting US imperialism and Kim Il Sung
made it clear that the DPRK was fully prepared to fight side by side with the
Vietnamese people whenever requested to do so by the Government of the
Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. This materialised in the form of sending
fighter pilots to Vietnam and allowing Vietnamese students to receive free
education in the DPRK. The close fraternal bonds between Cuba and the DPRK are
made clear in this speech. Kim Il Sung was adamant that the socialist countries
and the revolutionary peoples throughout the world have an internationalist
duty to defend the Cuban revolution and actively support the revolutionary
struggle of the Cuban people. He goes on to put forward a comprehensive
strategy for the progressive peoples to defeat US imperialism. All the
socialist countries and anti-imperialist forces the world over should form the
broadest possible anti-US united front, thoroughly isolate US imperialism and
strike a united blow against it in all areas and on all fronts where US
imperialism has stretched its tentacles of aggression. Only by doing this is
it possible to disperse and weaken the forces of US imperialism to the maximum.
Kim Il Sung relates the anti-imperialist struggle to modern revisionism and
ideas of so called peaceful co-existence. The attitude which the socialist
countries take towards US imperialism is the proof of whether they are really
fighting for the development of the international revolutionary movement at the
present time or not. Their attitude towards US imperialism is a touchstone
which distinguishes between the revolutionary position and the opportunist
position. So, he warns that the socialist countries should do away with all
deviations in the anti-US struggle and maintain an unswerving struggle against
US imperialism by working together.
However, although Kim Il Sung believes in
internationalism he also stresses the need for each country to independently
defend themselves against imperialism. If communists pin their hopes solely on
foreign support and aid, without developing their own revolutionary forces,
they cannot be certain of defending the security of their country and their
revolutionary gains against imperialist aggression. Therefore, self-reliance is
a completely revolutionary stand for a people to accomplish the revolution in
their country by relying mainly on their own forces.
In conclusion, this political programme has provided
the basis for turning the DPRK into a richer, stronger and more advanced
socialist nation, independent in politics and self-sustaining in the economy
and self-reliant in national defence. Its main goal is to ensure a happy life
for all the Korean people. Today the key elements of this programme are being
fully implemented by dear respected marshal Kim Jong Un. By following this line
set out by President Kim Il Sung the Korean people are bravely marching towards
final victory and a bright socialist future. No force on earth can stop the
advance of the Korean people, who, with the Juche based leadership of the
Workers’ Party of Korea, hold power firmly in their hands. There revolutionary
cause is a just one, and victory is on the side of the Korean people.
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