KIM JONG IL THE GENIUS WHO BUILT PEOPLE-CENTRED SOCIALISM , JUCHE-BASED SOCIALISM OF KOREAN STYLE.-special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

                                                             
                                                

 
Socialism in our country is the socialism of our own style; it is the application of the great Juche idea and is centred upon the popular masses.

It is five years since the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL the eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission (now State Affairs Commission) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea  and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea passed away .It is an understatement to say that he was a leader of many talents, it is more correct to say that he was a great leader amongst great leaders. KIM JONG IL had an amazing grasp of any subject from the cinema to military affairs .However his greatest achievement and enduring legacy was the building of people-centred socialism of Korean style based on the Juche idea ,a socialism that is different and unique not least because of its durability and indestructibility .
                                                  

  The great leader comrade KIM JONG IL was always directly involved in the building of socialism at an early age .As a student who took part in the reconstruction of Pyongyang. He joined the Workers Party of Korea on the 22nd of July 1961 and began work at the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on the 19th of June 1964 . Thus the five or so decades from the 1960s to his demise were intimately connected with the guidance of comrade KIM JONG IL to the building of socialism in Korea. Comrade KIM JONG IL's give both theoretical and practical guidance to the construction in People's Korea.

  Whilst at university in the 1960s  comrade KIM JONG IL wrote the graduation thesis . The Place and Role of the County in the Building of Socialism which was published in March 1964 . In the thesis he stressed the need for the Party and state in a socialist society to eliminate the differences between town and country. The county would serve as a regional base of socialist rural construction. Thus at an early age comrade KIM JONG IL adovocated Juche-based theories of socialist construction.

    The great leader comrade KIM JONG IL made sure that socialism in the DPRK was Juche-based and not the copy of another country. Flunekyism and dogmatism did great harm to the international communist movement and socialist camp , there were lessons learnt but at the cost of much pain. Some socialist countries in Europe blindly copied the the Soviet Union. It was said that in East Berlin when it rained in Moscow people carried umbrellas. Thus when modern revisionism appeared in the USSR , the East European socialist countries having no independence , having no Juche introduced modern revisionism. Later they copied the disastrous "glasnost " and "perestroika " bringing about the final frustration and disintegration of socialism in Eastern Europe. KIM JONG IL the successor to the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG fully implemented the Juche Idea and independent line of the Korean revolution
                                      

   
In the mid 1960s some socialist countries had deviated to the Right but some others had deviated to the Left . Both these extremes led to big losses in socialist construction . KIM JONG IL addressed officials of  the Science and Education Department of the  Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on June 13, 1967.First he looked at the question of material and political incentives under socialism. The modern revisionists were emphasising only material incentives. Comrade KIM JONG IL said "If a socialist economy is managed in accordance with such revisionist theory,the difference between a socialist economy and a capitalist economy will gradually disappear and socialist economies will degenerate into capitalist ones.. In the final analysis ,mercenary egoism will gain ground among people and in the end  it will reach the level where it erodes and undermines the whole socialist society "This is a deep and perceptive
analysis which illustrates the scientific thinking of KIM JONG IL The Leftists totally ignored material incentives and stressed only political and moral incentives. This caused chaos and losses in socialist construction. Comrade KIM JONG IL argued that political and moral incentives  should be backed by material incentives. The revisionists had also come out with a theory at the time that the rate of growth in a socialist economy  should be slowed down claiming that equilibrium should take precedence over speed. KIM JONG IL hit back saying "This is a revisionist theory which is blind to the superiority of the socialist system ;it is a very harmful  capitulationist tendency to retreat in the building of socialism ".
     This decisively smashed the nonsense of the revisionist who slowed down the building of socialism in some countries, even causing it to fall into the so-called "Era of stagnation " (of course there was no real stagnation only the revisionist sabotage of socialism). During the 1970s comrade KIM JONG IL organised the "70 day battle speed " at a time when the capitalist world was suffering from recession, inflation, unemployment  and the revisionist countries had low economic growth. The growth is industrial output value in the DPRK actually hit 70 per cent , an unprecedented figure.
   The great leader comrade KIM JONG IL strongly believed in  the independence and Juche character of socialism in the DPRK. On the 25th of December 1978 he put forward the slogan 
"Let Us Live Our Own Way ! "

  . The slogan "let us live our own way " was a striking and bold slogan , a militant revolutionary slogan that declared Korea's will to live its own way free from imperialism. It was an expression of the Juche-based faith of the DPRK guided by the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG to independently  and self-reliantly construct socialism without being fettered by big power  -chauvinism or US imperialism . At the time when the slogan was put  forward,the DPRK faced intense pressure from the modern revisionists and opportunists as well the sanctions and blockades of the US imperialists and the machinations of the south Korean puppets. In order to counter these manifold attempts to derail the building of socialism  a high degree of self-reliance was required. It was the demand of the times.  As the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL pointed out

"It is only when one displays a great revolutionary spirit of self-reliance that one can have faith in one's own strength, exploit the internal resources of one's country to the maximum and conduct the revolution and construction with success. Experience shows that only when one gives full play to the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance can one surmount every manner of difficulty and ordeal.

Even though the anti-Japanese guerrillas received no assistance from a regular army or from a state in the past, they, by displaying to a high degree the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, overcame manifold difficulties and hardships, defeated the brandish Japanese imperialists and accomplished the noble cause of national liberation. In the period after the Korean War our party members and working people rehabilitated the devastated economy by our efforts and transformed our country into a powerful socialist industrial state in a short span of time.

The situation we are in today demands that we display to a high degree the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. At present no country is willing to help another nor is any country in a position to help another, even should she want to".

       Later in 1997 comrade KIM JONG IL fully expounded the Juche character and national character of the Korean revolution in the work " On Preserving the Juche Character and National Character of the Revolution and Construction" which laid down fundamental principles for maintaining the Juche character and national character of the revolution and also explained the DPRK's history of building independent socialism and rejecting great power chauvinism.
                             

    The great leader comrade KIM JONG IL paid great attention to building the  
independent national economy . He made sure that the production of Juche fibre(Vinalon) , Juche fertiliser and Juche steel were stepped up. He attended the rally for the re-opening of the February 8th Vinalon Complex in 2010 and gave on-the-spot guidance to the complex several times.
   Thus the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL throughout his years of guiding 
the work of building socialism made sure that the socialism of the DPRK was a
a unique , independent , Juche-based socialism. At the same time he also made
sure that it was a socialism centred upon the popular masses, a people-orientated socialism. He said that he would make flowers bloom on  rock if it is the wish of the people. He set an example through his own style of work. He travelled a distance that was the equivalent of going around the earth many times in order to give on-the spot-guidance .He visited places at the crack of dawn denying himself sleep, sometimes just sleeping in his car and taking meals of rice-balls.On one occasion he went down a deep mine . Comrade KIM JONG IL dressed in a plain and simple clothes like an ordinary worker,
    Some socialist countries became bureaucratic and their leaderships were remote , this eventually led to the frustration of socialism in these countries.It can be added that some people in capitalist countries placed hopes on reformist social democratic parties but not only did these parties not fundamentally change the social order but they created huge bureaucracies .Comrade KIM JONG IL was a determined opponent of bureaucracy . He said that" "The wielding of power and bureaucracy have nothing in common with the true nature of the working-class party. These are the method of government employed by the reactionary ruling class of the old society. The appearance of such a method in socialist society is mainly due to outmoded ideological remnants in the minds of officials. The work method and style peculiar to the working-class party which struggles for the interests of the people are the revolutionary method and popular style of work. From the first days of building a new society we have set an important task for the Party and state to be to oppose the wielding of power and bureaucracy and to establish the revolutionary method and popular style of work among officials, and we have striven for this. Taking into consideration the fact that the generations change and the number of officials who lack sufficient revolutionary training is on the increase among cadres, we have at all times considered the establishment of the proper method and style of work to be an important task.
   This was a most trenchant expose of the harmful and reactionary nature of bureaucracy.Comrade KIM JONG IL made sure that that the Party and government enforced the all embracing benevolent politics . Even in the days of the "arduous march" and "forced march " when everything was short and the country faced difficulties, comrade KIM JONG IL made sure that the children of nurseries and kindergartens were supplied with soya milk and 'bean milk vans' drove through the streets every day . Comrade KIM JONG IL made sure that despite the sanctions and blockade as well the natural disasters that the Korean people received the benefits of free education, free medical care and even free housing.There was no austerity or privatisation in People's Korea.
  The great leader comrade KIM JONG IL was a great genius of revolution and construction who built people-centred socialism, Juche based socialism in the land of 
People's Korea.
Dr Dermot Hudson
President Association For the Study of  Songun Politics UK
Chairman Juche Idea Study Group of England
Chairman UK KFA
Chairman UK Preparatory Committee For the 2017 Gathering to Praise the Great Persons Born of Mt Paektu 
Member International Committee For the Study of Songun Politics