On April 15th
known as the day of the Sun by the Korean people and world people the 105th
anniversary of the birth of the great leader President KIM IL SUNG will be
celebrated not in Pyongyang the capital of Juche Korea and capital of the
world revolution but across the globe .
The great
leader comrade KIM IL SUNG was the
father of socialist Korea, liberator of the Korean people, a great theorist and
ideologist , an ever victorious iron -willed brilliant commander and the great
leader of the world revolution.
I first got
acquainted with the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG and Juche Korea
when I was 14 by reading a book
called“A Dictionary of Politics” but the book had very little information
about the DPRK and Juche ( in fact it failed to mention Juche !) and was
hostile and dismissive . However one thing it said made a deep impression on me
, that the DPRK maintained independence and kept relations with both the Soviet
Union and China. At the time this was very important and the DPRK was virtually
the only socialist country in the world to do so. I grew up in a period when
the socialist camp and international communist movement were badly split
between the 2 big socialist countries. Splits, division and confusion very
common, we not only had the split between the USSR and China but also
Trotskyites and Euro-communists. There was a pressing need for a wise and
responsible leader of the world communist movement who would both maintain
revolutionary, class and anti-imperialist principles but at the same time
maintain unity and solidarity. It was quite a feat for the DPRK to maintain
independence it had two great powers, Russia and China ,on its doorstep not
mention Japan just across the sea and the US. Just to maintain independence
under such incredibly difficult
conditions was the great feat of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG.
Although I
did not know much at that time about the great leader President KIM IL SUNG, it
was very much apparent to me that he was the most tested and experienced of all
the leaders of the socialist countries, having led the DPRK for over 40 years.
Comrade KIM IL SUNG outlived many veteran communist leaders such as Mao, Tito,
Hoxha and others. He was still active as a world communist leader in the 1990s
and played a key role in rallying the socialist forces after the frustration of
socialism in the USSR and elsewhere.
Despite my
admiration for the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG it was hard to find out any
other information about the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG and the DPRK. One
day I happened to find by chance some books from the DPRK, these were “Korean
Review”(1974) and Volume 5 of “KIM IL SUNG Selected Works”. I was immediately
impressed by the massive economic social, political and cultural achievements
of the DPRK which were not publicised in the West even by so called
progressives and communists. I found the sharpness, clarity and militancy of
the DPRK captivating. It was a breath of fresh air.
Reading
volume 5 of KIM IL SUNG selected Works, I read several speeches including the
one made at the 20th anniversary of the founding of the KPA and was struck by
the revolutionary fervour and thorough going anti-imperialist stand. I read
works such as the “The Great Anti-Imperialist Revolutionary Cause Of The Asian, African
And Latin American Peoples Is Invincible", “The Democratic People's Republic
of Korea is the banner of Freedom and independence for our people and the
powerful weapon of building socialism and communism” and the report to
the 5th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
All these
works made a great impression on me for a number of reasons, such as complex
and profound ideas conveyed with such simplicity, clarity and precision but
above all their deep revolutionary nature that was a breath of fresh air
compared to the stale revisionism that pervaded many organisations in the UK .
I felt totally enthralled by the Juche idea. It was exciting, radical and
revolutionary. I was deeply impressed by the steadfast anti-imperialist line
espoused by great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG and his militant defence of
socialism. He sharply condemned the 'liberalisation' and 'opening up' moves of
the East European countries and expounded the dictatorship of the proletariat
and proletarian democracy. I was particularly struck with comrade KIM IL SUNG'S
unswerving and steel like revolutionary anti-imperialist line , others spoke about
'peaceful co-existence and even co-operation with imperialism but the great
leader comrade KIM IL SUNG instead talked of chopping the limbs and head off US
imperialism and sternly warned them over the "Pueblo" incident that
if they provoked a war they would only get corpses and death. I decided to
become a follower of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG.
The
achievements of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG are so great and so
numerous that it is impossible to list them within a single article or even a
book or indeed many books. I will just list a few of his achievements, creation
of the Juche idea, his role as a great outstanding military commander and the
building of independent Juche-based socialism. I think these three areas
actually constitute a solid core of comrade KIM IL SUNG'S life and work but of
course there are others.
The Juche
idea authored by the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG IS now known throughout
the world. Seminars on it take place all over the world from Lima to London
,from Maputo to Moscow. It is an idea that fully embodies the hopes and
aspirations of the world people for independence, to live as masters of their
own fate. It inspires the oppressed and toiling masses everywhere. It is an
idea which is both simple and complex. It was first outlined by the great
leader comrade KIM IL SUNG at the Kalun meeting in June 1930 . Later it was
expanded on in many works. Comrade KIM IL SUNG defined Juche as follows
"In a
nutshell, the idea of Juche means that the masters of the revolution and the
work of construction are the masses of the people and that they are also the
motive force of the revolution and the work of construction. In other words,
one is responsible for one's own destiny and one has also the capacity for
hewing out one's own destiny."
Juche means
a lot more than independence and self-reliance though of course these underpin
the practical application of the Juche idea. Juche overcame the limitations of
previous revolutionary theories which stressed material and economic factors
and emphasised the base and superstructure.
Juche showed the correct path for liberation for the oppressed countries
of the world and the correct path for
building
socialism. The vitality of the Juche idea has been proved by the successful
construction of socialism in the DPRK and by the fact they when socialism was
frustrated in other countries , the DPRK stood firm.
Self-reliance
in defence was and is one of the key pillars of the Juche idea in practical
terms. The great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG was the iron -willed brilliant
commander who defeated 2 big imperialist powers within the space of one
generation. He was the protean guerrilla strategist and partisan who led the
armed struggle against Japanese imperialism for 15 years . Comrade KIM IL SUNG
formed the Korean Revolutionary Army in 1930 after the Kalun meeting and later
the Anti-Japanese People's Guerrilla Army(which became the Korean People's
Revolutionary Army in 1934). They did not have a state or rear base to rely ,
the anti-Japanese guerrillas had to be self-reliant. They captured weapons from
the Japanese aggressors and produced their own weapons such as the Yongil bomb(
today the DPRK has its own nuclear Yongil bomb the proud fruit of
self-reliance) . Kim Il Sung was like a modern Robin Hood. He set up liberated
zones it which land was distributed free of charge to landless peasants.
Comrade KIM IL SUNG was the master of strategy and tactics who defeated the
well armed Japanese armed forces in many battles such as Pochonbo, Musan and many
others. Korea was liberated in 1945 but only 5 years later did the drums of war
sound again when the DPRK was attacked by the south Korean puppets instigated
by the US imperialists . The US imperialists threw massive armed forces into
the conflict including those of their satellite forces. To my great shame the
Attlee government (heavily in debt to the US and pursuing a rabidly pro
American line) sent British troops to fight in the war against the DPRK. The
odds were stacked against the DPRK; the US had more troops than the DPRK and
had the latest weapons , their ground troops were backed by air power. The US
in terms of population and area was much greater than the DPRK . However after
3 years it was the US commander general Mark Clark who had to admit "I
return with feelings of misgiving from my third war-I was the first American
commander to put his signature to a paper ending a war when we did not win
it.”. US imperialism bit the dust and went on the road of decline and ruin.
This was due to the Juche-orientated brilliant military tactics of the great
leader comrade KIM IL SUNG.
Comrade KIM
IL SUNG showed his genius by not only being a great military commander but an
excellent and unparalleled leader in peacetime who built an independent
socialist country of Juche and a socialist paradise. Comrade KIM IL SUNG made
independence the cornerstone of socialism in Korea. The DPRK refused to join
the CMEA and instead pursued a policy of self-reliance. The DPRK under the
leadership of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG firmly resisted pressure, plots and
sabotage by great powers who did not want to see the building of an independent
socialism. Comrade KIM IL SUNG made sure that the Rightist deviation of modern
revisionism and the Left opportunism(aka "maoism") were avoided. He
put forward a policy of the class line and mass line. Class struggle continued
under socialism in the DPRK but at the same the unity of the people was
stressed. Today the DPRK is the most united society in the world where the
people, leader, party and army all form an integral harmonious whole. The DPRK
does not know social conflict or riots and strikes.
The DPRK
became a socialist paradise for the people The DPRK has provided people with
the right to work,housing is provided at a very low cost or even totally
free(one could only sigh when you contrast this to the recent headline about
house prices in London going up even faster). Education is also free up to all
levels which include university and post graduate study. School clothes and other
things for children are either free or sold at 50% of cost price. Mothers with
more than 3 children can work a 6 hour day but be paid for 8 hours. The
retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women. Free medical care was introduced
in 1953 and buttressed by further legalisation in 1960 and 1980 .All treatment
is including medicine is free and the state even pays travelling expenses to
the sanatorium !Taxation including local autonomy tax was abolished in 1974.
Such
measures have not been taken in all socialist countries nor in rich countries
but have been taken in the DPRK because of the profound concern of the great
leader comrade KIM IL SUNG for the people and the belief that the country
should shoulder full responsibility for the destiny and well-being of the
people. President KIM IL SUNG made sure that improvement of the peoples living
standard was enshrined in the principles of both the WPK and DPRK.
Thus Juche
socialism in a model for the world . Socialist Korea is the greatest and
durable legacy bequeathed by the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG.
Lets us
study more deeply the achievements of People's Korea, the Juche idea and the
revolutionary activities and life of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG.
GLORY TO THE
ETERNAL MEMORY OF THE GREAT LEADER COMRADE KIM IL SUNG!
Dr Dermot Hudson
President Association For the Study of Songun Politics UK
Chairman Juche Idea Study Group of England
Chairman UK Korean Friendship Association
Chairman UK Preparatory Committee for 2017 Gathering to Praise the Great Persons Born of Mt Paektu
Member International Committee For the Study of Songun Politics
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