KIM IL SUNG ON SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND THE SOUTH KOREAN REVOLUTION

KIM IL SUNG

ON SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND THE SOUTH KOREAN REVOLUTION

Lecture at the “Ali Archam” Academy of Social Sciences of Indonesia

April 14, 1965

In the past our country was a backward colonial and semi-feudal society ruled by Japanese imperialism. Now, after its liberation from Japanese imperialist colonial rule, Korea has been divided into north and south because of the US imperialist occupation of south Korea.

Since liberation, north and south Korea have traversed diametrically different roads. North Korea, where the people took power into their hands, has vigorously proceeded along the road of national independence and progress, while south Korea under the domination of the US imperialists has again taken the road of colonial slavery and reaction. We have freed one half of the country, where we are building a new life. But the other half is still occupied by foreign imperialist aggressive forces, and the national-liberation revolution on a nationwide scale is still unfinished.

So, the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Korean people are today faced with two revolutionary tasks.

One is to build socialism in the northern half of our country and the other is to liberate south Korea from US imperialist colonial rule and achieve the country’s reunification. ‘

These two revolutionary tasks are closely interrelated and the strug­gle for their fulfilment is a struggle to expedite the ultimate victory of the Korean revolution as a whole. The aim of the Korean communists is to reunify their country, carry out the socialist revolution and socialist construction on a nationwide scale, and then build communism. Our Party, leading the entire Korean people, is striving to achieve this aim.

At present, however, different situations prevail in north and south Korea and their revolutions are in different stages of development. Therefore, at the present stage, the revolutionary tasks in north and south Korea must naturally differ, although the Korean revolution is an integral whole. In other words, the immediate revolutionary task in north Korea is to build socialism, whereas the immediate task in south Korea is to carry out the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution.

We have energetically promoted the socialist revolution and socialist construction in the northern half of the Republic, rejecting the erroneous view that north Korea should wait until south Korea is liberated and should not advance the revolution further because south Korea is under US imperialist occupation and our country is not reunified. Meanwhile, we are resolutely against any tendency to forget the revolution in south Korea and the task of reunifying the country while thinking exclusively of socialist construction in the north and being satisfied with its achieve­ments. We have always adhered to the principled stand with which to steadily consolidate north Korea politically, economically and militarily, regarding it as the base for the Korean revolution, and, at the same time, to endeavour to accomplish the south Korean revolution by helping the people in their revolutionary struggle, to bring about national reunifi­cation and to complete the revolution to the end throughout the country.

1. ON THE COURSE OF PROGRESS OF SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION IN THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE REPUBLIC

Since the first days of the seizure of power, our Party has worked hard to convert the northern half into a reliable base for the Korean revolution by accelerating the revolution and construction in the already liberated northern half to the fullest in accordance with the lawful requirements of social development and, at the same time, by building up powerful internal revolutionary forces there. All the revolutionary struggle and construction work we have carried out in the north have been geared to the implementation of this consistent policy of our Party.

In the northern half of our country the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution was successfully completed in a year or two following liberation. As a result, the north, based on the victory of the democratic revolution, entered the period of gradual transition to socialism. The socialist revolution and socialist construction in the north hit their stride in the postwar years as the subjective and objective conditions further improved.

Our Party and people started building a new society under the conditions which consisted of a backward economy and culture inherited from the old society, a country having been divided into north and south, and a frontal confrontation with the US imperialist forces of aggression. Moreover, we went through a grim three-year war against the armed invasion of the US imperialists and their lackeys. All this caused untold difficulties and complications to our revolutionary struggle and construc­tion work.

After the Korean armistice we were faced with the difficult task of rapidly restoring the ruined national economy and rebuilding the shattered lives of the people in a short period of time, while actively pushing ahead with the socialist revolution.

The war damage in our country was indescribably devastating. The US imperialists had dropped an average of 18 bombs on every square kilometre of north Korea, thus reducing our towns and villages to heaps of rubble. Industry, agriculture, railway transport and all other branches of the national economy were completely destroyed and so were educational, cultural and public health establishments. The people had lost practically all their homes, furniture and household goods, and were also very short of food and clothing.

In fact, our position was so difficult and we had to face so many complex problems at that time that we were quite at a loss what to tackle first.

Under the circumstances, the most important thing was clearly to determine the orientation and the order of priority in reconstruction, and to identify the main link correctly and concentrate our efforts on it.

Considering heavy industry the main link for the successful solution of all problems of postwar reconstruction, our Party put forward the line of ensuring the priority growth of heavy industry simultaneously with the development of light industry and agriculture. Also, in developing industry, heavy industry in particular, the Party ensured priority to the rehabilitation of those branches which were essential to our national economy and the people’s living standards at the time, and which could produce immediate economic results. In agriculture, stress was laid on the production of grain in order to solve the food problem, one of the most pressing problems in the postwar period, at the earliest possible date, while carrying out the socialist cooperativization of the individual peasant economy.

The Three-Year Plan for Postwar Rehabilitation and Development of the National Economy (1954-56) was drawn up precisely in accordance with this line and policy, and the whole Party and all the people set to work on its fulfilment.

The anti-Party elements lurking within the Party, and the revisionists and dogmatists at home and abroad, were very critical of the line of ensuring the priority growth of heavy industry simultaneously with the development of light industry and agriculture. They cast slurs on our Party line, alleging that “Too much stress is being put on the building of heavy industry while the people are leading a hard life,” “Machines will not give us food,” and the like. Their argument was that everything had to be applied to immediate consumption without their being in the least concerned about the future. It was, in the final analysis, aimed at preventing our country from building its own economic foundations.

Our Party resolutely rejected such argument and firmly adhered to the line it had adopted. In this, the Party intended to create, in a short period of time using every possible means, an economic basis which would enable us to stand on our own feet, while improving the lowered living standard of the people as soon as possible.

Needless to say, it was a very difficult task to solve the question of the people’s standard of living while at the same time laying the economic foundations, since everything was destroyed and everything was in short supply. But we could not deviate from the demands of the revolution because of these difficulties, nor could we sacrifice the vital interests of the country and the people for a moment’s rest.

The Party trusted our people who had been tempered in the flames of war and had rallied firmly around it, and considered that it was definitely possible to carry out the task if the strength of the masses of the people and all the resources of the country were enlisted to the full, and effective use was made of the aid from fraternal countries. Under the leadership of the Party our working people, surmounting manifold difficulties by tighten­ing their belts and waging a hard struggle, overfulfilled the postwar Three-Year Plan before the scheduled time.

As a result, the people’s living standard improved considerably, and industrial and agricultural production not only matched, but also far exceeded, the prewar levels. Big strides were also made in the socialist transformation of the old relations of production, particularly in the cooperativization of agriculture.

True, our success was only a start and our economic situation was still difficult in those days. But having finished the postwar rehabilitation work, we were able to live on the assets which we ourselves had created and advance socialist construction more energetically.

Having completed the Three-Year Plan, we embarked on the Five-Year Plan in 1957. This was a plan to complete the building of the basis of socialism in our country.

On the basis of the successes and experiences already gained in socialist transformation, our Party put forward the task of completing the cooperativization of agriculture and the socialist transformation of private trade and industry in the Five-Year Plan period.

The most important task of the Five-Year Plan in socialist construc­tion was to lay foundations for socialist industrialization and solve the problems of food, clothing and housing for the people on the whole. As a result of the successful fulfilment of the postwar Three-Year Plan, our country went over from the period of rehabilitating the national econ­omy to that of its technical reconstruction. Designating the Five-Year Plan as the first stage of technical reconstruction, the Party decided to lay the basis for socialist industrialization in this period and thus further consolidate the foundations of an independent national economy and prepare the material and technical conditions for equipping all branches of the national economy with modern technology in the future. At the same time, we directed enormous efforts towards grain production, the textile industry and housing construction in order to solve the problems of food, clothing and housing which are basic necessities for the people’s life.

At the outset of the Five-Year Plan, we were faced with new diffi­culties and trials.

As everyone knows, the period of 1956-57 was the time when modern revisionism raised its head on a wide scale in the international communist movement and the world imperialists and international reactionaries, taking advantage of it, unleashed an extensive “anti-communist” cam­paign. In our country at that time the US imperialists entrenched in south Korea and their lackeys kept pace with the international “anti-communist” campaign and stepped up their reactionary offensive against the northern half of the Republic as never before. The anti-Party revisionist elements within the Party also attacked it, taking advantage of the complex situation and backed by outside forces. The anti-Party elements and their supporters abroad—revisionists and great-power chauvinists—joined forces in opposition to our Party and engaged in conspiracies to overthrow the leadership of our Party and Government.

Over and above this, our economic construction was also beset with a multitude of difficulties. We were short of materials and funds to carry out the enormous Five-Year Plan, and the people’s life was also still hard at the time.

How to tide over the complex situation, and with what resources, was the most serious problem before us.

We had no alternative but to rely on our Party members and people. Trusting its members and the masses, our Party decided to ride out the difficulties and trials ahead by enlisting their support.

And so, while building up its ranks more firmly and uniting the entire people more closely around it and thereby dealing a decisive counterblow to the offensive of the enemies of all kinds both within and without, the Party directed its main effort to the economic construction of socialism. Under the prevailing situation, our Party intended to rouse the whole Party and the entire people to activity to consolidate the positions of our revolution as firmly as a rock and bring about a great upsurge in socialist construction and, in so doing, completely crush all the offensives of internal and external enemies and open up an even wider vista for the revolution and construction work in our country.

According to this line of the Party, the December 1956 Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee, known as a historic plenary meeting in our country, discussed and made decisions on the first year’s tasks of the Five-Year Plan and ways and means for their implementation. After the plenary meeting, the members of the Presidium of the Party Central Committee and all other cadres went out to factories and villages, where they gave the working people a full report on our difficult situation and roused them to a heroic struggle to overcome the difficulties and trials.

Our Party members and working people came out resolutely in support and defence of the Party Central Committee and, by mounting a titanic struggle in response to the Party’s appeal, brought about a great change on all fronts of socialist construction. Everywhere they tapped immense reserves and potentialities, performed feats of labour that had been unthought of in the past, and worked miracles. Industrial output rose 40-50 per cent a year, and in agriculture bumper harvests were reaped year after year. Our towns and villages changed their appearance by the day and the people’s life improved rapidly.

This being the situation, the enemy’s “anti-communist” offensive and the anti-Party elements’ attack went by the board altogether, and those who had been vilifying us were also silenced. Meanwhile, the prestige of our Party grew among the masses as never before, our internal unity was further strengthened and socialist construction in our country progressed at a tremendous rate. We turned, so to speak, a misfortune into a blessing through struggle.

This is how the great upsurge in socialist construction and the Chollima Movement started in our country.

By maintaining the momentum of socialist construction and the Chollima Movement, we fulfilled the vast Five-Year Plan far ahead of schedule. By 1958 agricultural cooperativization and the socialist trans­formation of private trade and industry were already completed almost simultaneously without impediment. As regards production, the Five-Year Plan was fulfilled in only two and a half years in terms of the total value of industrial output, and it was fulfilled or overfulfilled in four years in indices of products.

With the fulfilment of the Five-Year Plan, our country was converted into a socialist industrial-agricultural state with the firm foundation of an independent national economy. Socialist relations of production came to hold undivided sway in towns and the countryside, while the base of heavy industry, with the machine-building industry as its core, and the base of light industry were laid. Agriculture, too, was put on a firm foundation of production. The people’s living standards improved and all people were freed from any worry or care about food, clothing and housing. In this way, the historic task of laying the foundations of socialism was accomplished triumphantly in the northern half of our country.

The Fourth Congress of our Party summed up the results achieved in the fulfilment of the Five-Year Plan and put forward the Seven-Year Plan (1961-67), a magnificent programme of socialist construction. The Seven-Year Plan period, it may be said, marks the decisive stage in socialist construction in the northern half of our country.

The fundamental task of the Seven-Year Plan is to carry out the all-round technical and cultural revolutions on the basis of the triumphant socialist system, thereby laying the solid material and technical foun­dations of socialism and greatly improving the material and cultural life of the people.

In a country like ours, which had no industrial revolution and did not go through the normal capitalist stage of development in the past, the technical revolution becomes an especially important task in the period of socialist construction. In accordance with the urgent demands of social development, we have completed the socialist transformation of produc­tion relations prior to the technical reconstruction of the national economy, thereby opening up a broad avenue for developing the productive forces, particularly for carrying out the technical revolution. By building the basis of socialist industrialization during the Five-Year Plan, we also laid the material and technical foundations for the all-round technical reconstruction of the national economy. In this way it has become the central problem in the Seven-Year Plan to carry out socialist industrialization completely and provide all branches of the national economy with modern technology.

With the fulfilment of the Seven-Year Plan our country will become a socialist industrial state and will have established an independent national economy developed in a many-sided way. As for the people’s standard of living, the problems of food, clothing and housing will be solved more satisfactorily.

In the past four years, our working people have already achieved great successes in carrying out the Seven-Year Plan, and they are carrying on a sustained, vigorous struggle for its fulfilment.

Needless to say, it is by no means easy to fulfil our Seven-Year Plan, for this is a huge plan and, moreover, we are building the economy against the background of a complex domestic and foreign situation. Because we had to make great efforts to strengthen our defence capabilities still further in order to cope with the prevailing situation in the past two or three years, the economic development of our country, in particular, fell somewhat behind schedule.

Nevertheless, our people under the leadership of the Party will fulfil the Seven-Year Plan at all costs by working even harder.

2. ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM

To abolish or reorganize the old relations of production based on private ownership and ensure that the socialist relations of production hold undivided sway is the basic content of the socialist revolution. In our country the establishment of socialist relations of production was accomplished through a number of revolutionary reforms—expropriating the property of the imperialists and their stooges, cooperativizing individual peasant farming on the basis of abolishing the feudal relations of land ownership, and transforming private trade and industry along socialist lines.

In formerly backward, colonial agrarian countries like ours, where the peasants made up the absolute majority of the population, the transformation of the socio-economic relations in the countryside is of special importance in building a new society.

The most pressing revolutionary task that faced us immediately after liberation was to do away with the feudal relationships predominant in the countryside.

We freed the productive forces in agriculture from their feudal shackles and emancipated the peasants from exploitation and enslave­ment by the landlords by carrying out agrarian reform in a draconian manner—confiscating the landlords’ land without compensation and distributing it among the peasants at no cost. This was a revolutionary change of great significance not only in the speedy development of agriculture and the improvement of the peasants’ standard of living, but also in the strengthening of the worker-peasant alliance and the democratization of the country’s political, economic and cultural life as a whole.

The abolition of the feudal relationships, however, is only the first step in solving the rural question. As a result of agrarian reform, the small-commodity-producing economy of the individual peasants became pre­dominant in our countryside. As is generally known, so long as small peasant farming predominates, the productive forces are bound to run up against certain limits in their development, and exploitation and poverty cannot be stamped out completely. In order to free the productive forces in agriculture completely from the fetters of the old production relations and emancipate the peasants once and for all from exploitation and oppres­sion of every description, it is necessary to carry out socialist cooperativization in agriculture.

In our country, the cooperativization of agriculture became the most urgent requirement in the postwar period. Because of the war, agriculture was severely ravaged and there was a great shortage of manpower and draught animals. If, under such conditions, individual peasant farming had been left undisturbed, it would have been impossible to restore the agricultural productive forces quickly, to improve the peasants’ standard of living, or, what is more, to solve the problem of the impoverished peasants whose number had further increased during the war. Most of them were then at the end of their tether, finding it absolutely impossible to farm without joining forces in one way or another. Meanwhile, the socialist state economy, which occupies the leading position in our national economy, was exerting a great influence on individual peasant farming and, in particular, we were able to give material assistance to the peasants’ cooperative movement by relying on the fast-developing socialist industry. As for the balance of class forces in the rural areas, the influence of the rich farmers whose economic foundation had been destroyed in the war was very weak, and, in contrast, our working peasants, through a protracted revolutionary struggle and the severe war, were politically awakened and rallied ever more firmly around the Party.

Taking all this into account, our Party set agricultural cooperativi­zation as an immediate task right after the armistice and actively went ahead with the cooperative movement as the peasants’ enthusiasm increased.

The cooperativization of agriculture in our country was successfully completed in a short period of only four or five years after the war strictly in accordance with the principles of object lessons and of spontaneity and thanks to the powerful leadership and assistance given by the Party and the state.

We first began with the work of forming, on an experimental basis, a few cooperatives in each county with poor peasants and rural Party nuclei who supported cooperativization most actively, and of consolidating them. This was the experimental stage in our agricultural cooperative movement. It is of course necessary to study and assimilate the experiences of other countries in any revolutionary struggle or construction work, but the most important thing is, in any case, one’s own experience. Moreover, one cannot start from scratch such a serious and complex socio-economic reform as agricultural cooperativization on a large scale, by drawing only on the experience of others without accumulating a certain amount of experience of one’s own or merely out of a subjective desire.

During the experimental stage we were able to determine the proper forms, methods and tempo of cooperativization suitable to the actual conditions of our country, and to help our cadres to accumulate experience and gain confidence in leading the cooperative movement. By showing the advantages of cooperative farming to the peasants in practice on the strength of our own experience, we were able to induce them to join the cooperatives voluntarily on a large scale.

The leadership and assistance of the working-class party and state are an indispensable condition for the emergence, consolidation and develop­ment of the socialist system in the rural areas. We conducted tireless political work among the peasants to lead them along the road of socialist collectivization, and did everything in our power to consolidate the organized cooperatives politically and economically. Our Party’s en­ergetic leadership and the state’s powerful material assistance to the cooperative movement played a decisive part in overcoming all the difficulties of the postwar period and securing a sure victory for the system of socialist cooperative farming.

Foreign revisionists and great-power chauvinists and their followers—the anti-Party factionalists in our country—were also very critical of our Party’s policy on agricultural cooperativization. They alleged that agricultural cooperativization was impossible in a situation in which socialist industrialization had not yet been carried out and modern farm machinery were not available. They also alleged that the tempo of agricultural cooperativization was too fast. They did not know anything about the specific realities of our country and did not bother to understand them either.

It is obvious that, had we missed the best opportunity when all conditions were ripe for the cooperativization of agriculture, and had we not carried it out rapidly, but waited until we had developed industry enough to mass-produce modern farm machinery, we might have failed to restore agriculture quickly, and this, in the long run, would have retarded the development of industry itself and the national economy, as a whole, much more.

Our experience has shown that agricultural cooperativization is possible when conditions urgently demand a transformation of the old production relations and when enough revolutionary forces have been prepared to undertake it, even though modern farm machinery may be very nearly nonexistent, and that cooperative farming organized in this way is decidedly superior to individual farming.

The establishment of socialist production relations in the towns took a different course from that in the countryside.

In our country’s economy in the past, industry and other key branches were monopolized by Japanese imperialist capital, while the development of national capital was very much restricted. As a result, right after liberation, the nationalization of industries, along with agrarian reform, presented itself as an important task of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution. We nationalized the indus­tries, transport facilities, communications and banks which had been owned by Japanese imperialists and traitors to the nation, and thereby brought the country’s basic means of production under the ownership of the entire people. This was a historic change that wiped out the economic footholds of foreign imperialism and created a socialist state economy for the first time in our country.

As a result of the nationalization of industries, the socialist state economy assumed the leading position in our national economy, while capitalist trade and industry which had been insignificant originally could only play a secondary role. Under these conditions, our Party followed the policy of drawing capitalist traders and industrialists into socialist construction and gradually reorganizing their economy, on the basis of the speedy expansion and development of the socialist state economy.

After the war, the socialist transformation of capitalist trade and industry became a more urgent requirement. Because of the war damage there was very little capitalist trade and industry left, and even that was mostly reduced to a fragmented economy with little to distinguish it from handicrafts and small trade. Right after the armistice, the entrepreneurs and traders of our country found themselves in a position where they could neither restore their economy nor improve their living without relying on the socialist economy and pooling their efforts and funds.

In the prevailing situation, our Party introduced the policy of transforming the economy of the capitalist traders and industrialists, together with that of handicraftsmen and small traders, along socialist lines through various types of cooperative economy. This conformed both to the demands of socialist construction and to the interests of the entrepreneurs and traders themselves. Almost all the entrepreneurs and traders, therefore, accepted our Party’s policy on cooperativization, and the socialist transformation of private trade and industry was completed in a short time after the war.

With the completion of the cooperativization of agriculture and the socialist transformation of private trade and industry, a socialist system free from exploitation and oppression was firmly established in the northern half of our country. This opened a broad avenue for the rapid development of the country’s productive forces and the radical improve­ment of the people’s material and cultural life. The triumph of the socialist system also created the socio-economic conditions for the political and moral unity of the entire people based on the worker-peasant alliance led by the working class.

3. ON THE ECONOMIC CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIALISM

Economic construction is a very important task for a Marxist-Leninist party which has assumed power.

Once in power, the Marxist-Leninist party assumes responsibility for the people’s living and is duty bound to systematically improve their material and cultural well-being. The question of the people’s living can be solved only when economic construction is carried out well. Economic construction also creates material conditions for strengthening the might of the country and for consolidating the victories already gained in the revolution and further expanding and developing them. Economic construction in the northern half of our country, in particular, has a decisive significance not only for providing a happy life for the people there but also for strengthening our revolutionary base, the guarantee of the country’s reunification, and for assisting the people of south Korea in their revolutionary struggle. From the early days of liberation, therefore, our Party has made every effort to consolidate the economic foundations of the country and steadily improve the people’s standard of living.

In our country which was formerly under the colonial yoke of imperialism, to create and develop a modern industry was the most important exercise in the economic construction of socialism.

During Japanese imperialist rule our country’s industry was in­significant. Because of the exclusive sway of Japanese imperialist capital the development of the national industry was restricted to the ultimate degree and even our traditional handicrafts were totally ruined. With the sole aim of plundering Korea of her resources and bleeding her people white, the Japanese imperialists built only a few industries producing raw materials and semi-finished goods in our country. The manufacturing industries were negligible, and the machine-building industry, in particular, was practically nonexistent. The technological equipment of industry was totally obsolete.

It was this colonial industry which we inherited from the old society, and even that was utterly destroyed by the war.

In these circumstances, a modern industry could not be built merely by rehabilitating and developing the industry which already existed. We had to put an end to the colonial imbalance of our industry and radically improve its technological equipment, while ensuring a high rate of growth in its output.

On the basis of the nationalization of the major industries which was carried out immediately after liberation, our Party forcefully promoted industrial construction and carried out this work on a large scale particularly in the postwar period. In this way we have achieved great success in the creation of a modern industry.

The annual rate of growth of industrial production in the ten postwar years from 1954 to 1963 averaged 34.8 per cent. Our country’s industrial output in 1964 was about 11 times that of the prewar year, 1949 and more than 13 times that of the pre-liberation year, 1944.

As a result of the rapid growth of industrial production, the proportion of industry in the total value of industrial and agricultural output jumped from 28 per cent in 1946 to 75 per cent in 1964.

Heavy industry constitutes the basis for the development of the national economy. Unless it is developed, light industry and agriculture cannot be developed, nor can all branches of the national economy be equipped with modern technology. Specifically, heavy industry is the material basis for the country’s political and economic independence, without which we can neither talk about an independent national economy nor strengthen our national defence capabilities.

Our Party’s line in regard to the building of heavy industry was to create our own base of heavy industry which would be equipped with new technology and would develop by relying mainly on domestic natural resources and sources of raw materials and would be capable of supplying the needs of our national economy for materials, raw materials, fuel, power, machinery and equipment mainly with locally-produced products.

This is explicitly a line of creating an independent modern heavy industry.

The most important thing in implementing this policy of our Party was to combine the rehabilitation, reconstruction and new building of heavy industrial plants in a rational way, and synchronize the develop­ment of heavy industry with that of light industry and agriculture.

The heavy industry we had operated with technologically obsolete equipment and was defective and severely damaged. But, for all that, we could not abandon it. Our Party has followed the policy of restoring the existing foundation of heavy industry and reconstructing and expanding it on the basis of modern technology so as to make the best use of it, and, at the same time, of building new industries and enterprises which had not previously existed in our country.

While steadfastly promoting the priority growth of heavy industry, the Party has also endeavoured to develop it, not just for the sake of having it, but in order that it can most effectively serve the development of light industry and agriculture and the improvement of the people’s standard of living.

In this way we were able to build a powerful heavy industry base with comparatively little investment in a historically short time and, on this basis, also develop light industry and agriculture rapidly.

Our heavy industry now possesses all the key subdivisions, is equipped with new technology and has its own reliable sources of raw material. In 1964 our country’s heavy industry produced 12,500 million kwh of electricity, 14,400,000 tons of coal, 1,340,000 tons of pig and granulated iron, 1,130,000 tons of steel, more than 750,000 tons of chemical fertilizer, 2,600,000 tons of cement, and large quantities of various types of means of production, machinery and equipment.

One of our biggest achievements in the building of heavy industry has been the creation of our own machine-building industry.

The revisionists, talking about “international division of labour”, opposed our Party’s line on the building of heavy industry and main­tained, among other things, that our country did not need to develop the machine-building industry but should produce only minerals and other raw materials. Of course, we could not follow this kind of advice.

Our Party had already started building machine factories under­ground during the war, and rapidly expanded the machine-building industry after the war.

Entering the period of the Five-Year Plan, we set about developing this industry extensively so as to produce, by ourselves as far as possible, not only small- and medium-size machinery, equipment and accessories but also heavy machinery and equipment required by our national economy.

This was a very difficult task for us, as we had no experience and lacked technology. It goes without saying that those who disapproved of the development of the machine-building industry in our country could not help us. When we produced tractors, motorcars and other modern machinery and equipment for the first time, we had to do everything ourselves, from designing to assembling. Our workers and technicians met with many a setback, but they gritted their teeth and set to until at last they succeeded in turning out these machines and equipment, and were able to mass-produce them. We also launched a massive let-each-machine-tool-make-more movement to make machine tools in all places where machine tools were already in existence, thereby rapidly extending the foundations of the machine-building industry and, at the same time, convincing our working people that they were capable of making any type of machines.

Our country’s machine-building industry was created by means of this hard-fought struggle. But in the process our working people accumulated invaluable experience, gained a stronger belief in their own strength and talents, and showed a still greater attachment for the machines and equipment they had made with their own hands under all sorts of difficulties.

And so, although our country did not have the machine-building industry in the past, we are now producing most of the machinery and equipment including generating, chemical and metallurgical equipment, motorcars, tractors, excavators and other heavy machines and equipment needed by our national economy. In 1964 the proportion of the machine-building industry in industrial output was 25.8 per cent and the rate of domestic supply in machinery and equipment reached 94.3 per cent.

Today our heavy industry with the machine-building industry as its core, forms the reliable material foundation to equip all branches of the national economy with modern technology and to guarantee the political and economic independence of the country.

Light industry was one of the most backward sectors in our country. We have made great efforts to build up our own base of light industry capable of meeting the needs of our people.

Our Party’s policy in the production of consumer goods for the people is to develop small-and medium-scale local industry alongside large-scale central industry.

We have built many large-scale central industry plants which constitute the backbone of light industry, and have constantly strengthened their technological equipment, thereby actively increasing the production of various consumer goods.

But in view of the economic situation of the country, we could not build many large-scale light industry factories at once. If we had relied on them alone, we would not have been able to eradicate the backwardness in light industry quickly nor would we have been able to meet the rapidly growing needs of the people in any way. A decisive measure was needed to bring about a change in the production of consumer goods for the people.

Our Party, therefore, decided to develop the production of consumer goods as an all-people movement, and put forward the policy of building more than one local industry factory in every city or county. The working people in all parts of the country rose as one to carry through the Party’s policy and built more than 1,000 in only a few months without spending a large amount of state funds, by mobilizing surplus local materials and manpower, with the result that many kinds of consumer goods were turned out in large quantities. Our country has now upwards of 2,000 local industry factories, the technological equipment of which has been improved considerably. Our local industry accounts for more than half the country’s output of consumer goods.

Our experience shows that in general it is rational in light industry, in view of its economic and technological peculiarities, to develop small- and medium-scale factories alongside the large ones. It also shows, particularly, that it is an effective way of increasing the production of consumer goods and rapidly developing industry as a whole in the backward countries to build many small-scale local factories which are technologically comparatively simple. The construction of local industry is also of great importance for the balanced development of all regions of the country, and especially for bringing industry closer to agriculture and for the gradual elimination of the distinctions between town and country.

We have built our own base for light industry, which consists of central and local industries, and so we now have the ability to ensure our people’s living with nationally produced consumer goods. Let us take only the textile industry, for example. The output of fabrics increased 195 times that before liberation, with 25metres of various fabrics being produced per head of the population. The food industry and the production of consumer goods have also progressed apace.

Our consumer goods are not yet of high quality and their variety is also not so wide as is required. But our working people are proud that all the goods they use are made by their own hands, and they are very happy to use them. In the near future we will solve the question of raising the quality of consumer goods on the whole to world standards and widening their variety even more.

The rural question occupies a very important place in socialist construction.

It is the problem of the socio-economic position of the peasantry as an ally of the working class, and the problem of the development of the productive forces in agriculture, one of the two major branches of the national economy. The completion of socialist agricultural cooperativization marks a historic landmark in the solution of this question. But it still does not mean the final solution of the rural question.

Following the establishment of the socialist system in rural areas, it becomes necessary, on the basis of a steady consolidation of this system, to develop the productive forces in agriculture to a high level, give the peasants a prosperous life, liquidate the backwardness of the countryside left over by the exploiter society, and gradually eliminate the distinctions between town and country.

In a socialist society, too, agriculture is weaker than industry in its material and technical foundations; the cultural level of the rural population is lower than that of the urban population, and the peasants are behind the workers in ideological consciousness. Because of this backwardness of the countryside in comparison with the towns, coopera­tive property remains the dominant pattern in agriculture, unlike in industry where the property of the whole people predominates. And so there is still a class distinction between the working class and the peasantry. The rural question will finally be solved only when the distinctions between town and country and the class distinction between the working class and the peasantry are eliminated.

For the successful solution of the rural question in a socialist society, it is necessary to carry out the technical, cultural and ideological revolutions thoroughly in the rural areas, strengthen the support for the countryside in every way, steadily improve the guidance and management of agriculture, and continuously bring cooperative property closer to the property of the whole people. Our rural work has been carried on in accordance with these principles since the cooperativization of agri­culture.

In the past our country’s agriculture was based on backward mediaeval techniques. And cooperativization was introduced with practi­cally no technical reconstruction of agriculture. Thus, the technical revolution in the countryside became the most urgent problem for the development of socialist cooperative agriculture.

As the cooperativization was nearing completion and industry developed, our Party immediately set about the rural technical revolution.

The Party defined irrigation, mechanization, electrification and the use of chemicals as the basic tasks of this revolution, and began with irrigation.

Since agriculture, unlike industry, depends largely on natural geo­graphical conditions, and climatic conditions in particular, irrigation constitutes the basic guarantee of high and stable harvests in farming. In the postwar period we carried out large-scale nature-remaking projects for irrigation in an all-people movement, investing large amounts of state funds. As a result, we have basically overcome the damage from drought and flood in agriculture, and have laid the solid foundation for production free from crop failure.

Great success has also been attained in mechanization, electrification and the use of chemicals. Our countryside now has 20,000 tractors (in terms of 15 hp units), which means one tractor for every 100 hectares of crop area and about 300 kilogrammes of chemical fertilizer are applied to each hectare. In the preliberation days our rural areas had no electricity, but now it is supplied to 95.5 per cent of all the rural ri and 81 per cent of all the farmhouses.

While promoting irrigation, mechanization, electrification and chemical application, we have exerted untiring efforts to introduce the achievements of agricultural science and advanced farming technology extensively and, in particular, to develop intensive methods of farming.

Thanks to all this, agricultural production has continued to develop fast in our country. Grain output has doubled in comparison with the pre-liberation period. Stockbreeding and other branches of the rural economy have also made great progress. The food problem, historically one of our most difficult problems, has been solved in the main and we have for some years now been self-sufficient in the supply of food.

As a result of the development of the productive forces in agriculture and the vigorous advance of the cultural and ideological revolutions in the countryside, the appearance of our rural areas has changed, the living standards of the peasants have improved and their political awakening and level of consciousness have risen. Our socialist system of cooperative farming has been further consolidated and developed and a rational system has also been established in the guidance and management of agriculture.

Needless to say, when viewed against the huge tasks of socialist rural construction, the achievements we have made in rural work are still in their initial stages. But we have laid the solid foundation for the construction of a socialist countryside. Besides, from our own achievements and experiences, we have found the right orientation for the solution of the socialist rural question, and can clearly recognize our future tasks in rural work. Our Party and people will continue to solve the rural question creditably on the basis of what we have already accomplished and in accordance with the orientation and tasks laid down.

One of the most important subjects in socialist construction in a backward country is the training of national cadres.

Immediately after liberation we were very short of national cadres, above all in technology, and this was one of the biggest obstacles to the state administration and economic and cultural construction. The ques­tion of national cadres, therefore, was always an acute problem for us.

The question of old intellectuals is of great importance in building up the ranks of national technical cadres. Whether or not the old intellectuals are drawn into the construction of a new society greatly affects the economic and cultural development of the country, and this is especially true in the early stage of the revolution.

It is true that the old intellectuals of our country come mostly from the propertied classes, and they served the imperialists and exploiting classes in the past. But, as intellectuals of a colonial country, they were subjected to oppression and national discrimination by foreign imperial­ists and, accordingly, they already had a revolutionary mettle.

Taking into full account the important role played by the intellectuals in the construction of a new society and the characteristics of our’ intellectuals, since the early days of liberation our Party has pursued the policy of including them and remoulding them into intellectuals who serve the working people. Inspired by the Party’s policy, the absolute majority of the old intellectuals came over to the side of the people after liberation and took an active part in the revolutionary struggle and construction work. Thus, they have made a valuable contribution to the economic and cultural construction of the country and continue to do so.

Through the persistent education by the Party and the ordeals of the revolutionary struggle, especially through the trials of the Fatherland Liberation War against the armed invasion by the US imperialists, our old intellectuals have now been transformed into excellent socialist intel­lectuals and have matured into important national cadres.

While reforming the old intellectuals, our Party paid the greatest attention to the training of new national cadres from among the working people. With a view to expanding the ranks of national cadres rapidly, the Party adopted the policy of giving priority to the work of training cadres and educational work.

Though we had no experience and were not adequately provided with all the necessary conditions, we set up many institutions of higher learning, including Kim Il Sung University, and expanded the network of schools at all levels on a large scale immediately after liberation. We continued to train national cadres even during the grim war years and, after the war, exerted still greater efforts to this work.

In our country a system of compulsory primary education was introduced as early as 1956 and a system of compulsory secondary education was established in 1958. We will introduce compulsory nine-year technical education in the coming few years.

Pupils and students, numbering about one quarter of the total population, are now studying in more than 9,000 schools of all levels in our country, of whom university students alone number 156,000.

Another important policy consistently followed by our Party in education and the training of cadres is the close combination of general education with technical education and of education with productive labour.

We have reorganized the former system of secondary education to establish a system of technical education, and further improved the content of education, so that all the younger generation can acquire a certain amount of technological knowledge along with general knowledge of the fundamentals of science. Our country has also set up a widespread study-while-work system of education which is made up of networks of evening schools and correspondence courses, factory colleges and com­munist universities with the result that large numbers of working people are receiving secondary and higher technical education without being withdrawn from production.

Despite the country’s difficult economic conditions, we have thus directed enormous efforts to the training of cadres and to education, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles, in order to rid ourselves of backwardness quickly and further accelerate our rate of advance. As a result, we have been able to build up the ranks of our own national cadres in a comparatively short period of time, and made sure of bringing up even large numbers of new cadres in the future. As of October 1964, the technicians and experts working in all fields of the national economy of our country numbered more than 290,000. All factories and enterprises, including large modern plants, are managed and operated entirely by our own technical cadres.

In this way we have not only established an advanced, socialist system in the northern half of the Republic, but have laid the economic and cultural foundations which enable us to build up the economic life of our country by our own efforts. This establishes an asset for the happy life of our people and the future prosperity of our society. It also shows that we have firmly built up our revolutionary base politically, economically and culturally, and constitutes a reliable guarantee for the reunification of our country and for the final victory of the Korean revolution.

4. ON THE QUESTIONS OF ESTABLISHING JUCHE FIRMLY AND OF IMPLEMENTING THE MASS LINE

All our victories and successes in the socialist revolution and the building of socialism are attributable to our Party’s Marxist-Leninist leadership and to the heroic struggle of our people for the implementation of the Party’s policies.

The complete establishment of Juche was most important for our Party to give correct leadership to the Korean people in their rev­olutionary struggle and construction work.

To establish Juche means holding fast to the principle of solving for Oneself all problems of the revolution and construction in conformity with the existing conditions in one’s country, and mainly by one’s own efforts. This is a realistic and creative stand which opposes dogmatism and applies the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism and the experience of the international revolutionary movement to one’s country in conformity with its historical conditions and national peculiarities. This represents an independent stand of doing away with the spirit of relying on others, of displaying the spirit of self-reliance and solving one’s own problems on one’s own responsibility under all circumstances.

The Korean communists are making a revolution in Korea. The Korean revolution is the basic duty of the Korean communists. It is obvious that we cannot make the Korean revolution when we are ignorant of, and removed from, the reality of the situation in Korea. Marxism-Leninism, too, can become a powerful weapon of our revolution only if it is applied to our country’s reality.

Masters of the Korean revolution are our Party and our people; the decisive factor in the victory of the Korean revolution, too, is our own strength. It is self-evident that we cannot make a revolution by relying on others, and that others cannot make the Korean revolution for us. International support and encouragement are important to the revo­lution, to be sure, but, above all, work and struggle by ourselves, the masters, are essential for the advancement of the revolution and its victorious conclusion.

There are, in the world, large and small countries and parties with a long or short history of struggle. Nevertheless, all parties are fully independent and equal and, on this basis, cooperate closely with each other. Each party carries on its revolutionary struggle under the specific circumstances and conditions of its own country; by so doing it enriches the experience of the international revolutionary movement and con­tributes to its further development. The idea of Juche conforms to this principle of the communist movement, and stems directly from it.

The problem of establishing Juche has acquired special importance for the Korean communists in view of the circumstances and conditions of our country and the complexity and difficulty of our revolution.

While resolutely fighting in defence of the purity of Marxism Leninism against revisionism, our Party has made every effort to establish Juche in opposition to dogmatism and flunkeyism towards great powers. Juche in ideology, independence in politics, self-support in the economy and self-defence in national defence—this is the stand our Party has consistently adhered to.

Holding fast to the principles of Marxism-Leninism, our Party studies and analyses the way things are in Korea and, on this basis, determines its policies independently. Unrestrained by any existing formulas or propositions, we boldly put into practice whatever conforms to the principles of Marxism-Leninism and the circumstances in our country.

We respect the experiences of other countries, but always take a critical attitude towards them. So we accept any experience that is beneficial to us, but reject any that is unnecessary and harmful. Even when introducing a good practice from another country, we do so by remodelling and modifying it to suit the actual conditions of our country.

Our Party has always maintained an independent stand in its approach to the international communist movement and, likewise, in its struggle against modern revisionism in particular. We are resolutely fighting against modern revisionism, and this fight is invariably conducted on the basis of our own judgement and conviction and in conformity with our actual conditions. We consider that only by holding firmly to such a stand can we correctly wage the struggle against revisionism and make substantial contributions to the defence of the purity of Marxism-Leninism and the strengthening of the unity of the international commu­nist movement.

If one fails to establish Juche in the ideological and political fields, one will be unable to display any creative initiative because one’s faculty of independent thinking will be paralysed, and in the end one will even be unable to tell right from wrong and will blindly follow what others do. Anyone who has lost his identity and Chajusong in this way can fall into revisionism, dogmatism and every description of Right and “Left” opportunism and can eventually bring the revolution and construction to naught.

There was also a time in our country when some of the cadres had been infected with dogmatism and flunkeyism towards great powers, and they did quite a bit of harm to our work. The dogmatists disregarded our conditions without studying them and sought to swallow the experience of others whole and copy it without thinking. This sort of person, who simply looked up to others and became accustomed only to copying them, slid down in the end into national nihilism, where everything that is his own is disparaged and everything foreign is praised. This tendency was man­ifested most seriously on the ideological front. The dogmatists, instead of studying, explaining and giving publicity to our Party’s policies, merely echoed other people like parrots. They even went so far as to deny our people’s history of struggle and revolutionary traditions, and tried to paralyse the creativity of our scholars in scientific research work. They also tried to teach the students what they had copied in toto from others in education, discarding everything national and spreading only foreign trends in literature and art.

In our country the harm done by dogmatism was revealed most glaringly during the war, and became all the more intolerable in the postwar period as the socialist revolution and the building of socialism progressed rapidly. Moreover, it gradually dawned on us in this period that the revisionist trend creeps in through the medium of dogmatism.

In 1955, therefore, our Party set forth the definite policy of establishing Juche, and has been persistently waging an energetic ide­ological struggle to carry it through ever since. The year 1955 marked a turning point in our Party’s consistent struggle against dogmatism. It was also at that time, in fact, that we started our fight against modern revisionism which had emerged within the socialist camp. Our struggle against dogmatism was thus linked with the conflict against modern revisionism.

It was of paramount importance in establishing Juche to strengthen the study of Marxism-Leninism among the cadres and Party members and, at the same time, to equip them firmly with their Party’s ideas, its policies. We have effectively conducted ideological work among the cadres and Party members so that all of them think in terms of the Party’s intentions, make a deep study of Party policies, work in accordance with them and strive devotedly for their implementation. Our experience shows that when the Party ranks are firmly united in both ideology and organization, dogmatism can be overcome, the infiltration of revisionism can be prevented and all work can be done creditably in line with the Party’s intentions.

At the same time, we decisively intensified the study of our country’s past and present and our people’s revolutionary and cultural traditions among all the Party members and working people. We saw to it that in all sectors of the ideological front including science, education, literature and art, things of our own country are given priority, national traditions are honoured and our fine national heritage is carried forward. The advanced culture of other countries is also introduced, not in its entirety, but through assimilation to convert it into ours.

These measures have greatly boosted the national pride of our people and their awareness of independence, and have led them to reject the tendency of automatically imitating other people’s ways and to endeavour to do everything in conformity with the existing conditions in our country. As a result of the establishment of Juche, science and technology have progressed with great rapidity, changes have taken place in the quality of education and the training of cadres, and a new, socialist national culture, suitable to the life and sentiments of our people, has blossomed and developed.

While establishing Juche in the ideological and political spheres, our Party has, in the economic sphere, held fast to the principle of self-reliance and the line of building an independent national economy.

If one lacks the spirit of self-reliance, one will eventually lose faith in one’s own strength and make little effort to mobilize one’s national resources and, accordingly, one cannot carry out the revolutionary cause. We are engaged in the revolutionary struggle and construction work with a determination to carry out the Korean revolution by our own efforts and build socialism and communism in our country by our own labour and with our own national resources.

Needless to say, we fully recognize the importance of international support and encouragement and consider foreign aid a necessity. But we reject the erroneous ideological viewpoint and attitude of slackening our own revolutionary struggle while waiting for an advantageous inter­national opportunity, or of making no effort ourselves while simply turning to other countries for aid. Both in the revolutionary struggle and in construction work, self-reliance must be given priority, while support and encouragement from outside are regarded as secondary. Only when one strives in this spirit can one expedite the revolution and construction of one’s country to the maximum and also contribute to the development of the international revolutionary movement.

In the period of postwar rehabilitation our country received eco­nomic and technical aid from fraternal countries amounting to some 500 million rubles (550 million dollars), and this, of course, was of great help to our reconstruction. But in those days, too, it was our principle to enlist the forces of our people and our national resources to the fullest; at the same time we also tried to make effective use of the aid from the fraternal countries. In fact, it was our own forces that played the decisive role in postwar reconstruction. There is no need to make further mention of the achievements scored in the economic construction of our country in subsequent years.

We have thus laid the solid foundations of an independent national economy on the principle of self-reliance.

Economic independence is an indispensable requisite for the building of a rich and strong and civilized independent state. Without building an independent national economy, it is impossible to guarantee the firm political Chajusong of a country, develop the productive forces and improve the people’s standard of living.

Socialism means the complete abolition of national inequality along with class exploitation, and requires an all-round development of the economy, science and technology. It is therefore natural that the economy of socialism should be an independent economy developed comprehen­sively.

We by no means oppose economic cooperation between states or advocate building socialism in isolation. What we do reject is the great-power chauvinist tendency to check the independent and comprehensive development of the economy of other countries and, furthermore, to subordinate their economy to one’s own on the pretext of “economic cooperation” and “international division of labour”. We consider that mutual cooperation should be based on the building of an independent national economy in each country, and that this alone makes possible the steady expansion and development of economic cooperation between states on the principles of complete equality and mutual benefit.

Today our country is developing its economy by relying mainly on its own technology, its own resources and on the efforts of its own cadres and people; it is meeting the domestic needs for heavy and light industrial goods and agricultural produce mainly with its own products.

As for our country’s economic relations with foreign countries, they are those of filling each other’s needs and assisting each other on the principles of complete equality and mutual benefit, and these relations are manifested through foreign trade and in various other ways.

Having laid the solid foundations of an independent national economy, we have come to possess our own economic basis for increasing the wealth and power of the country and markedly raising the people’s living standard, and have developed the capacity to expand and promote economic cooperation with other countries. Our economic independence also constitutes the reliable material basis for guaranteeing the country’s political Chajusong and strengthening its defence capabilities.

Along with the establishment of Juche, the implementation of the mass line has been one of the most important subjects in our Party’s leadership of the revolution and construction work.

Believing that the decisive guarantee for the acceleration of the socialist revolution and the building of socialism consists of enlisting all the creative energies of the masses of the people and offering full scope for their enthusiasm, creative initiative and talents, our Party has consistently held to the revolutionary mass line in all its activities.

Our Party has been able to achieve great successes in the socialist revolution and the building of socialism by relying on the great revolu­tionary enthusiasm and inexhaustible creative powers of our people who, taking their destiny in their own hands, go all out to build a new life. The Party, always placing faith in the popular masses, consulted them and enlisted their forces and wisdom in overcoming any difficulties and trials it encountered.

We have also successfully carried out many large and difficult construction projects by launching mass campaigns. The let-each-machine-tool-make-more movement, the building of local industry fac­tories, enormous nature-remaking projects for irrigation, and the re­construction of towns and villages which had been reduced to rubble—all this was carried out through mass campaigns, through all-people drives.

In our country, science and technology are also developing rapidly in a mass movement through creative cooperation between the scientists and technicians on the one hand and the workers and peasants on the other; literature and the arts are also flourishing gloriously through the amalgamation of the activities of professional writers and artists with the literary and artistic activities of the broad masses.

The practice of relying on the masses and rousing the broad masses to activity is a revolutionary and positive method, and it makes it possible to mobilize all potentialities and possibilities to the fullest in the revolution and construction.

The Marxist-Leninist party must implement the mass line at all times, both before and after seizing power, both in the revolutionary struggle and in construction work. And the danger of going back on the mass line increases once the party seizes power. Upon its foundation after liberation, our Party assumed the leadership of the government, and many of our officials had had little experience in the revolutionary struggle and mass work in the past. It was, therefore, a particularly important matter for us to improve their method and style of work to carry out the mass line.

Our Party has waged a vigorous ideological struggle to eliminate bureaucracy and establish the revolutionary mass viewpoint amongst officials. The Party has made tireless efforts to induce all officials to acquire the revolutionary work method of going deep among the masses, consulting them, deriving strength and wisdom from them and mobilizing them to fulfil the tasks which lie ahead.

The method of work which is called the Chongsanri method in our country, is precisely the embodiment and development of our Party’s mass line in conformity with the new realities of socialist construction. Fundamentally the Chongsanri method consists in the fact that the higher bodies help the lower ones, superiors help their subordinates, political work is given priority and the masses are roused to carry out the revolutionary tasks.

Through the spread of the Chongsanri method, we have decisively improved the officials’ method and style of work and brought about a big change in the work of the Party, state and economic bodies.

To give priority to political work is the most important thing in drawing out the revolutionary zeal and creative energy of the masses of the people.

Communists always fight in defence of the people’s interests and for their happiness. To this end, the broad masses of the people should be awakened and mobilized. One of the intrinsic advantages of socialism is that under this system the working people, freed from exploitation and oppression, display voluntary enthusiasm and creative initiative in their work for the country and society and for their own welfare.

To conduct political work well among the masses and thereby induce them to perform the revolutionary tasks voluntarily is, therefore, a powerful method of work stemming from the inherent character of communists and from the very nature of the socialist system.

It is basically wrong to concentrate only on economic and tech­nological work while neglecting political work, and to lay stress on material incentives only, without raising the political and ideological consciousness of the working people.

Our Party has firmly adhered to the principle of giving priority to political work in all matters.

In carrying out any revolutionary task we began by thoroughly explaining and bringing home to all the Party members and the masses the Party’s policy with regard to the task and made sure that they held mass discussions about ways and means of executing the Party’s policy and strove to carry it through with a high degree of political consciousness and enthusiasm. To raise the class awareness of the working people and their level of political and ideological consciousness, we have also briskly carried on communist education among them in combination with education in the Party’s policies and our revolutionary traditions.

Political work is precisely work with people, and it is basic to Party work. Lacking the Party’s leadership, the masses cannot be mobilized, nor can socialism and communism be built. Only on the basis of increasing the leading role of the Party and constantly strengthening Party work in all spheres, have we been able to succeed in carrying out the principle of giving priority to political work.

By energetically carrying on political work, work with people, which is the basis of Party work, we have been able to lead our working people to display a high degree of revolutionary enthusiasm and creative energy and to inspire them to mass heroism and mass enthusiasm for labour.

To raise the Party’s leading role and give definite priority to political work, combining this properly with economic and technological work, and to raise the working people’s political awakening and level of consciousness steadily in proper combination with material incentives, is the basic method our Party employs in mobilizing the masses for socialist construction.

To educate and remould the masses of all walks of life and unite them solidly around the Party was very important in carrying out our Party’s mass line.

The political unity and solidarity of the people in the northern half of the Republic is not only the decisive guarantee for building a new life there, but is also one of the basic factors in reunifying the country and achieving the victory of the Korean revolution.

Our Party has consistently and tirelessly worked to rally the people of all walks of life in the northern half closely around it and to convert our revolutionary base into a stronger political force.

The protracted colonial rule of Japanese imperialism, the partition of the country and, particularly, the enemy’s alienation manoeuvrings during the war, have made the social and political composition of the population of our country very complex. However, we cannot make a revolution with only perfect people, casting aside all those whose social status and social and political life are complicated.

Therefore, our Party, closely combining the class line with the mass line, has followed the policy of winning over to the side of revolution everybody save the handful of malicious elements. Under conditions where the socialist system had already triumphed and the Party’s force had grown extensively and its authority and prestige had become unshakably established among the masses, we considered it possible to educate and reform everyone, except the confirmed reactionaries with a hostile class origin.

And so we boldly trusted and embraced even those whose social status and records of social and political life were checkered, and guaranteed them conditions for working in peace, provided that they now supported our Party and showed enthusiasm in their work.

Experience has fully confirmed the correctness of this policy of our Party. By carrying through the policy we have been able to re-educate the broad masses from all walks of life and are continuing to do so. Although the composition of our population is complex and we are facing the enemy at close range, our Party has today firmly united the mass of the people around it, and a cheerful, optimistic atmosphere prevails in our society.

The all-people Chollima Movement which has been under way with unabated vigour in our country is the most brilliant embodiment of our Party’s mass line.

The Chollima Movement represents a mass drive which organically fuses collective innovations in economic and cultural construction with the work of re-educating the working people. Through the Chollima Movement all the wisdom, enthusiasm and creative energy of our people are brought into full play, innovations are effected in all spheres of the economy, culture, thought and morality, and the building of socialism in our country is greatly accelerated.

The Chollima Movement is the general line of our Party in socialist construction. The essence of this line is to unite all the working people more firmly around the Party by changing them through education in communist ideas and to give ample scope to their revolutionary fervour and creative talents so as to build socialism better and faster.

We will continue to expand the Chollima Movement and develop it in depth, and so further expedite the building of socialism in the northern half of our country.

5. ON THE SOUTH KOREAN REVOLUTION

Inasmuch as it is a revolution for liberating one half of the territory and two-thirds of the population of our country still under the control of foreign imperialism, the revolution in south Korea constitutes an important part of the Korean revolution as a whole. For the reunification of our country and the victory of the Korean revolution, it is necessary to consolidate the revolutionary forces in south Korea while strengthening he socialist forces in the north and carry out the revolution in south Korea while promoting socialist construction in the north.

Since the first days of their occupation of south Korea, the US imperialists have pursued a policy of military aggression and colonial enslavement. As a result, south Korea has been completely turned into a colony, a military base of the US imperialists.

The south Korean “regime”, since it is a puppet regime installed by he US imperialists by force of arms, is nothing but a docile instrument for executing the instructions of its US overlords.

Through this puppet regime and with their so-called “aid” as bait, the US imperialists have placed all the political, economic, cultural and military spheres of south Korea under their control.

Using the slogan of “joint defence” as a pretext they have directly thrown the US aggressive forces, nearly 60,000 strong, into south Korea. Not only that, but the US army commander holds full power of command over the south Korean army in the name of the so-called “Commander of he UN Forces”.

The US troops who are occupying south Korea insult and barbarously massacre innocent people. They have introduced nuclear and rocket weapons into south Korea, thus converting it into their military base for aggression and constantly jeopardizing peace in Korea.

The US imperialists’ “aid” to south Korea serves as a major means of aggression and plunder.

They gave some 12,000 million dollars in “aid” to south Korea between 1945 and 1964, of which 3,600 million dollars were economic “aid” and all the rest, military.

The US imperialists’ military “aid” goes to meet part of the military expenditure for the upkeep of the more than 600,000 strong puppet army of south Korea. This is a mercenary army geared entirely to the US imperialists’ policy of aggression. The upkeep of one division of the south Korean puppet army costs the US imperialists as little as only a twenty-fifth of the upkeep of a US army division. Thus, by forcibly conscripting young and middle-aged south Koreans and using them for their aggressive purposes, the US imperialists are “saving” themselves enormous sums in war expenses, while imposing heavy burdens of military expenditure on the south Korean people. Also, by keeping the huge puppet army in their service in place of their own troops, they give the south Korean army a semblance of serving some sort of national interests and pass themselves off as some kind of “helpers”.

The economic “aid” of the US imperialists, too, is nothing but a means to subordinate the economy of south Korea to their ends of military aggression and colonial plunder. By incorporating “aid funds” into the puppet government’s budget, the US imperialists have obtained a tight grip on the “government” budget and, through the supply of those funds, control the banking organizations and enterprises in south Korea. In this way they control 45 to 50 per cent of south Korea’s financial budget and 30 per cent of its banking funds, and monopolize 70 to 80 per cent of its raw material supply and 80 per cent of its import trade. Today the south Korean economy is tied up inextricably to the United States; the financial and economic organizations and enterprises in south Korea are in a position where they will have to stop operations the moment US imperialist “aid” is cut off.

All this convincingly shows that US imperialism is the real ruler in south Korea.

In order to secure a more favourable foothold for their colonial domination following their occupation of south Korea, the US imperialists reorganized part of the socio-economic relations in south Korea.

In their aggression against south Korea, they attached prime importance to the fostering of comprador capital, which was to play the role of middleman in the disposal of the surplus goods from their country, and of guide for the penetration of US private capital, the agent in their plunder of the resources and local purveyor of some war materials.

They built up the position of comprador capital by such means as landing over the properties formerly owned by Japanese imperialists to private capitalists and speculators for a mere song or enabling them to amass exorbitant profits through the monopoly of the rights to purchase and sell the “aid” goods the US imperialists dumped in south Korea. Thus, today some 500 comprador capitalists account for about 40 per cent of south Korea’s manufacturing industries, around 80 per cent of its mining industry and more than 50 per cent of its foreign trade, whereas during Japanese imperialist rule the share of south Korea’s comprador capital in the composition of its key industries was barely 6 per cent.

The US imperialists have preserved intact the feudal exploiting system in the south Korean countryside which is favourable to their colonial domination and pillage. They enforced so-called “agrarian reform” in south Korea, but this was no more than a piece of trickery designed to quell the demand for land on the part of the south Korean peasants who had been inspired by the agrarian reform in north Korea. Even after the enforcement of this “agrarian reform” the feudal relations of exploitation remain as predominant as ever in the south Korean rural areas and the peasants’ economy has become even more fragmented than before.

Today, about 100,000 landlords hold 40 per cent of the total area under cultivation and exploit 1,400,000 peasant households in south Korea. These peasants have to pay farm rents ranging from 50 to 60 per cent of their harvests, and most of them are held in bondage to the landlords and rich farmers through loans at usurious rates of interests.

US imperialism thus set up a system of colonial rule following its occupation of south Korea and, on this basis, has been enforcing an unheard-of military dictatorship over the people.

In south Korea, policemen and bureaucrats alone number more than 155,000. At present, 370,000 special political agents have been unleashed against the people there.

This colonial-type social, political and economic system has become fetters hindering the development of the economy and the democratization of social life in south Korea.

South Korea’s national economy is now totally bankrupt and the level of its industrial production stands at no more than 85 per cent of what it was at the time of liberation.

South Korea’s agriculture is likewise in an acute crisis. Agricultural output has dropped to two-thirds of what it was at the time of liberation. South Korea, once known as the granary of our country, has now become an area of chronic famine which has to import 800,000 to 1,000,000 tons of cereals every year.

Today there are roughly seven million unemployed and semi-unemployed in south Korea, and every year more than one million peasant households suffer from lack of food during the spring shortages.

The national culture and the beautiful manners and good customs peculiar to the Korean people are utterly trampled underfoot and the decadent and degenerate American way of life is corrupting all that is sound in social life.

The people are denied all political rights and are living under a reign of terrorism and tyranny.

This economic catastrophe and the wretched social position of the people in south Korea have produced acute social, class and national contradictions.

The basic contradiction in south Korean society at the present stage is the contradiction between US imperialism and its accomplices—the landlords, comprador capitalists and reactionary bureaucrats—on the one hand and the workers, peasants, urban petty bourgeois and national capitalists on the other.

Therefore, to attain freedom and liberation, the people in south Korea must drive out the US imperialist forces of aggression and destroy their accomplices—the landlords, comprador capitalists and reactionary bureaucrats. Of these US imperialism is the No. 1 target of struggle for the south Korean people.

There can be no freedom and liberation for the people or social progress, nor can the reunification of our country be achieved, until the US imperialist aggressive troops are driven out and its colonial rule is abolished in south Korea.

The revolution in south Korea is a national-liberation revolution against the foreign imperialist forces of aggression, and a democratic revolution against the forces of feudalism.

The motive force of this revolution in south Korea is the working class and its most reliable ally, the peasantry, and the students, intellectuals and people of the small-propertied classes who are opposed to the imperialist and feudal forces. The national capitalists, too, can take part in he anti-imperialist, anti-feudal struggle.

Our Party, with support of the socialist forces in north Korea, has all along been waging a stubborn struggle to carry out the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution in south Korea by mobilizing all its patriotic, democratic forces.

The path ahead for the south Korean revolution is beset with many difficulties and obstacles.

The occupation of south Korea by the aggressive army of US imperialism and its policy of aggression are the cause of the complex, arduous and protracted nature of both the revolution in south Korea and the Korean revolution as a whole.

The US imperialists need south Korea for more than just a market for their surplus goods and a supply base for strategic resources. They also need it as the logistical base for the occupation of the whole of Korea, as a bridgehead for hostile activities against the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China and for aggression on the Asian continent, and, further, as an important strategic point for world domination.

That is why the US imperialists have stationed in south Korea more than half of their Pacific ground forces, although they have been driven to the wall and are tottering in all parts of the world today.

Thus, the revolution in south Korea has as the object of its struggle such a powerful enemy as US imperialism, the most ferocious and insidious of all.

South Korea is the gathering place and the haunt of domestic reactionaries.

In contrast to north Korea, the remnants of Japanese imperialism were not liquidated in south Korea after liberation. With a view to establishing a foothold for their colonial domination the US imperialists actively protected and rallied the remaining forces of Japanese imperi­alism. The former pro-Japanese forces have now turned into pro-American forces, and these have grown still ranker.

Moreover, as the revolutionary struggle was intensified and the counter-revolutionary elements were dealt with in north Korea, some of the landlords, comprador capitalists, pro-Japanese lackeys, traitors to the nation, wicked bureaucrats and fascist elements fled to south Korea and joined the reactionary forces there.

In addition, many of the reactionary forces which had been scattered in foreign lands wormed their way into south Korea.

The domestic reactionary forces thus formed the counter­revolutionary forces together with outside forces, and set themselves against the revolutionary forces.

“Anti-communist” ideas are also deeply rooted in south Korea. The petty bourgeoisie made up the majority of the population and the cultural level of the masses was very low and, in addition, Japanese imperialism had maliciously spread “anti-communist” ideas for 36 years, and after liberation US imperialism and its lackeys further stepped up their “anti-communist” propaganda.

During the Fatherland Liberation War the People’s Army advanced and ideologically enlightened the people in the liberated areas to a certain extent, but their influence was not great because they were there for only a short period of time.

As a result, a considerable proportion of the people in south Korea ire still taken in by the enemy’s “anti-communist” propaganda, and this is a big obstacle to the development of the revolution there.

Because of all these circumstances, the revolution in south Korea must naturally be carried out under very difficult conditions and take many twists and turns.

Notwithstanding this, the people of south Korea have been waging an unremitting struggle, from liberation to the present time, against the colonial fascist rule of US imperialism and its lackeys and for their right to live, for democracy and the reunification of the country.

Immediately after the August 15 liberation the working-class movement surged forward rapidly in south Korea, and under its impact the struggle of the people of all walks of life also gained momentum.

Inspired by the successes of the revolution in the northern half, the people in south Korea fought resolutely against the US imperialist policy of colonial enslavement and for the independence and sovereignty of the country and for the introduction of democratic reforms of the kind which had been carried out in the north.

The general strike called by the south Korean workers in September 1946 for food, higher wages, an immediate halt to every kind of cruel oppression by the US military government, and the enactment of a democratic labour law, developed into an all-people anti-US resistance struggle in October, involving about 2,300,000 patriotic people.

Even after that, the anti-US, save-the-nation struggle of the people in south Korea continued vigorously, including the February 7 struggle in 948 for national salvation³ against the entry of the “UN Temporary Commission on Korea” which had been engineered by US imperialism and the struggle against the May 10 separate elections⁴ designed to ruin he nation.

Action was also taken by the puppet army soldiers. For example, in October 1948 a mutiny broke out at Ryosu in protest against the repression and barbarous slaughter of people by the US imperialists and their lackeys; even the local people joined in, the puppet government offices were destroyed and for a time the city of Ryosu was entirely occupied.

These struggles showed that the people in south Korea were strongly opposed to the US imperialist policy of colonial enslavement and the traitorous acts of the domestic reactionaries and were resolutely demand­ing freedom and independence for their country and the establishment of a democratic system; they abundantly demonstrated the revolutionary spirit and great strength of the masses of the people.

The struggle of the south Korean people, however, experienced a temporary setback because of the setting up of a separate, puppet regime in south Korea in May 1948 and because of the fascist policies pursued thereafter by the US imperialists and the Syngman Rhee clique.

The US imperialists and the Syngman Rhee clique mobilized US army units equipped with the newest weapons to put down the mass movement and perpetrated barbarous acts, arresting, imprisoning and murdering patriotic people at will.

The US imperialists also manoeuvred craftily to split and break up the revolutionary forces from within by using the factionalists and spies who had infiltrated the leadership of the Workers’ Party of South Korea at the time. As a result, the Party organizations were totally destroyed and the revolutionary forces were then dispersed in south Korea.

The struggle of the south Korean people gradually embarked upon the road of a new advance in the postwar years.

After the war, inspired by the successes in socialist construction in the north, the people in south Korea kept up a staunch struggle for democratic liberties and rights against US imperialism and its stooges.

The massive Popular Uprising in April 1960, in which the student youth of south Korea played the central role, overthrew the puppet government of Syngman Rhee, an old minion of US imperialism. This was an initial victory in the south Korean people’s struggle, and it dealt a heavy blow to the colonial rule of US imperialism.

The collapse of the puppet Syngman Rhee government signified, above all, the bankruptcy of all its anti-popular policies and its notorious “march north” outcry.

In their heroic struggle the people of south Korea demonstrated the revolutionary mettle of the Korean people, gained valuable experience id lessons and were greatly awakened politically.

After the April Popular Uprising, the situation in south Korea rapidly developed in favour of the revolution, and the masses became ore courageous to fight against US imperialism and its lackeys, for the dependent, peaceful reunification of the country.

Thus, the struggle of the people in south Korea, under the banner “Reunification is the only way of life,” began to develop into a struggle to tear down the barrier between the north and the south.

The US imperialists, greatly alarmed by these developments in south Korea after the April Popular Uprising, engineered a military coup by ding and abetting the fascist elements within the military, and stage-managed the insidious plot of replacing the Chang Myon “regime”, the second puppet regime, by the fascist Pak Jung Hi military “regime”.

This, however, has only resulted in the further aggravation of the crisis in the US imperialist system of colonial rule.

Last year witnessed another large-scale anti-imperialist, anti-fascist struggle of the student youth in south Korea.

This struggle started in opposition to the renewed aggression by Japanese militarism and for upsetting the “ROK-Japan talks”. Gradually it assumed an anti-“government” character and developed into a struggle to topple the Pak Jung Hi “regime”.

This patriotic, progressive struggle of the student youth, which lasted more than 70 days from March 24 to June 5, dealt another heavy blow to the Pak Jung Hi clique and the US imperialists.

While intensifying the policy of fascist repression and terror against the people at home so as to crush the advance of the student youth and the masses of the people today, the US imperialists and the Pak Jung Hi “regime” hasten to team up with the Japanese militarists abroad and, further, make frantic efforts to establish an “anti-communist” joint Northeast Asia defence system.

With these manoeuvres, however, the US imperialists and the Pak Jung Hi “regime” can never cope with the ever-worsening crisis of their colonial rule, nor can they break the patriotic spirit of the people in south Korea who oppose US imperialist colonial rule and are striving to achieve the freedom and independence of their country.

In south Korea today, the antagonism between democracy and reaction, between the patriotic revolutionary forces and the imperialist forces of aggression is becoming more acute, and the imperialist and reactionary forces become more isolated and weakened with each passing day.

The national and class awakening of the people is gradually heightened, their anti-US sentiments are rising fast, and the trend towards independent, peaceful reunification is growing among them by the day. In the course of the struggle, the people in south Korea are tempered constantly, accumulate rich political experience and are united in a more organized way.

At the present stage the basic policy of the revolution in south Korea is to protect the revolutionary forces from the enemy’s repression and, meanwhile, to accumulate and expand these forces steadily, thereby preparing to cope with the great revolutionary event to come.

The most important thing to this end is to build a strong rev­olutionary party and prepare the main force of the revolution in south Korea. To build the main force of the revolution means uniting around the party the main classes which can be mobilized for the revolution—namely the workers and the peasants.

In south Korea at present, the nuclear ranks of revolutionaries armed with Marxism-Leninism are growing, the class awakening of the workers and peasants is raised and the revolutionary force is expanding steadily among them.

It is important to form a united front with all classes and levels on the basis of building a revolutionary party and closely uniting the workers, peasants and other sections of the working people.

The south Korean revolutionaries direct special attention to combin­ing the struggle of the workers and peasants with that of the young people, students and intellectuals and, at the same time, endeavour to form a broad anti-US, save-the-nation united front comprising all classes and social levels.

The growth and strengthening of the revolutionary forces and the formation and consolidation of the anti-US, save-the-nation united front can be realized successfully only when an extensive mass struggle is launched. Our Party actively supports, encourages and inspires all forms of progressive, patriotic mass movement afoot in south Korea.

In the final analysis, the revolution in south Korea can triumph only through the growth of the revolutionary forces of the south Korean people and their decisive struggle. Through this fight the people in south Korea will be further awakened and schooled and will eventually grow into an invincible revolutionary force. Thus, when the hour strikes they will assuredly drive out the US imperialists, crush their lackeys, and carry the revolution to victory.

The revolution in south Korea, no matter what method is employed, can emerge victorious only when the revolutionary forces are strengthened. Needless to say, once US imperialism is driven out and the evolution triumphs in south Korea, the reunification of our country will be achieved peacefully.

It is the duty of our Party to do everything in its power to expedite the growth of the revolutionary forces in the south and assist the south Korean people in their revolutionary struggle.

It can be said that the reunification of our country, the nationwide victory of the Korean revolution, depend, after all, on the preparation of three major forces.

First, to strengthen our revolutionary base politically, economically and militarily by successfully building socialism in the northern half of the Republic;

Second, to strengthen the revolutionary forces in south Korea by politically awakening and closely uniting the people there;

Third, to strengthen the solidarity of the Korean people with the international revolutionary forces.

Our Party is fighting unremittingly to strengthen these three rev­olutionary forces.

It is of great importance for the victory of our revolution that the Korean people strengthen their solidarity with the international rev­olutionary forces and internationally isolate and weaken the US imperial­ist aggressors.

Our Party is holding fast to the line of uniting firmly with the peoples of the socialist countries and actively supporting, and strengthening our solidarity with, the peoples of the newly independent states who are opposed to imperialist aggression, and the peoples of all countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America who are fighting to throw off the yoke of imperialism. We are endeavouring to strengthen our solidarity with the progressive people of the whole world.

In this regard it is very important to strengthen unity with the Asian, African and Latin-American peoples and, in particular, to fight in unity with all the Asian peoples to drive the US imperialists out of Asia.

The anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist struggle of the communists and people of Indonesia is conducive to this common struggle of the Asian peoples.

The Korean people attach great value on their ties and solidarity with the communists and people of Indonesia, and actively support their revolutionary struggle.

Holding high the banner of revolution, the communists and peoples of our two countries will always fight in close unity against the aggressive forces of US-led imperialism, for national independence, socialism and peace.