LET US FURTHER STRENGTHEN THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM OF OUR COUNTRY
Speech Made at the First Session of the Fifth Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
December 25, 1972
Comrade Deputies,
Elections to the Fifth Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were held successfully at a time when all of our people were making a great new revolutionary advance on all fronts of socialist construction, upholding the decision of the historic Fifth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and when the whole nation was seething with a burning desire for independent, peaceful reunification.
All our citizens, with great pride and a sense of honour as citizens of the DPRK, participated in the elections and expressed their unreserved support for and profound trust in our Party and the Government of the Republic. These elections strengthened our revolutionary power still more, consolidating the revolutionary base of the northern half of the Republic.
On behalf of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Republic, I should like to express warm thanks to all the people for their unreserved support for and deep trust in our Party and the Government of the Republic as manifested in the recent elections.
Comrades, twenty-four years have passed since the Korean people embarked on the creation of a new society and a new life under the banner of the Republic, with a genuine people’s Constitution, the first of its kind in their history. In this period our people, under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, have made great achievements in the socialist revolution and in the building of socialism. During these years there has been a truly great transformation in this country and epoch-making changes have taken place in the political, economic and cultural spheres of our people’s life.
Our situation today urgently demands the establishment of a new Socialist Constitution to give legal force to the tremendous achievements of our people in the socialist revolution and the building of socialism and to lay down the principles of the political, economic and cultural features of socialist society. Therefore, we formed a Commission for the Drafting of the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK and have prepared a draft Socialist Constitution. The draft Socialist Constitution of the DPRK was discussed at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and considered by the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland before it was submitted to the Supreme People’s Assembly.
The adoption of the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK at the current session of the Supreme People’s Assembly will be a historic event in our people’s revolutionary struggle and work of construction.
1. THE STRUGGLE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC FOR THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTION AND BUILDING OF SOCIALISM
Comrades, the socialist revolution is the most complete social transformation in the history of mankind for the abolition of the exploitation of man by man once and for all and for opening up a new path of social progress.
If the working class and the Marxist-Leninist party that fight to liberate the masses of the people from exploitation and oppression and ensure them a happy life are to fulfil their historic mission, they must lead the people in carrying out the socialist revolution. Only when the people who have extricated themselves from the colonial enslavement of imperialism take the road to socialism, can they be completely liberated from class exploitation and national oppression, and enjoy a free and happy life and achieve their country’s sovereignty and independence and national prosperity.
In our country the socialist revolution began after the carrying out of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution in the northern half of the Republic following liberation. It is a logical process of revolutionary development that the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution led by the working class changes to the socialist revolution.
After the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution had been carried out, our country had a socialist economic sector consisting mainly of the state-run economy, alongside a small-commodity sector consisting of the individual peasant economy in the country areas and an urban handicraft economy, and a capitalist economic sector of capitalist trade and manufacturing in towns and the rich peasant economy in rural areas.
As long as the capitalist and small-commodity sectors were left intact, it was impossible to eradicate the sources of exploitation and poverty completely and free the productive forces of society entirely from the shackles of old production relations, and develop the nation’s economy as a whole speedily and in a planned way. Therefore, in order to free our people completely from all sorts of exploitation and oppression and develop the country’s productive forces rapidly, we had to carry out the socialist revolution upon the completion of the democratic revolution.
Furthermore, we had to do this in order to strengthen the unity and solidarity of all the people based on the worker-peasant alliance on a new socialist foundation, wipe out the strongholds of the reactionaries and the breeding ground of old ideas, and augment the political basis of the revolution.
Our people thus entered the period of transition to socialism immediately following the democratic revolution. However, in the days of peaceful construction our socialist revolution was only partially started; it was still in the preparatory stage. Because of the war forced on us by the US imperialists, the socialist transformation in the northern half of the Republic had to be interrupted temporarily, and our socialist revolution could virtually start only after the war.
Postwar socio-economic conditions in the northern half of the Republic urgently demanded the full-scale acceleration of the socialist revolution.
The war badly damaged the material and technological foundations of agriculture and brought extreme poverty not only to the poor peasants but also to the middle and rich peasants. After the war our country areas were very short of draught cattle, farm implements and manpower, and there was also an acute shortage of food and clothing. Since agriculture had been so severely damaged, the continuation of the individual peasant economy would have made it impossible to restore the productive forces of agriculture speedily and solve the postwar food problem, which had become very serious. Unless the devastated productive forces of agriculture were rapidly restored and the food problem solved promptly, there was the danger that the development of industry and the national economy in general would be held back and that a serious disparity would arise between industry, which was then being reconstructed and developed quickly in a planned way, and agriculture, which was being rehabilitated slowly. In addition, if the small peasant economy had been left intact, we would not have been able to improve the living conditions of our impoverished peasants rapidly and, in particular, to solve the problem of the poor peasants whose number had increased during the war. In short, the limitations of the individual peasant economy in our country manifested themselves most strikingly in the postwar years and we could not allow this situation to exist any longer. The only way to overcome these difficulties was to go over to a cooperative form of agriculture.
The war also greatly depleted individual trade and manufacturing in the towns. The capitalist traders and manufacturers suffered such severe losses that they were reduced to straitened circumstances just as the handicraftsmen and small merchants were. After the war the entrepreneurs and merchants were unable to recover their previous economic positions or eke out a living by themselves. The only way out for these impoverished entrepreneurs and merchants was to work collectively, pooling their efforts and funds with the assistance of the state, that is, to take the socialist path. It was not only the demand of our revolution but also an objective necessity arising from the conditions facing the capitalist traders and manufacturers, that they had to be led to follow the road to socialism after the war.
The full-scale acceleration of the socialist revolution after the war was also necessary in order to strengthen the revolutionary base of the northern half of the Republic. Only by continuing to accelerate the revolution in the north was it possible to turn it into a strong base to eventually guarantee national reunification and the nationwide victory of the revolution. Therefore, the continued and vigorous acceleration of the revolution in the north was not only needed for the revolutionary development of the north itself but it was also essential for the advancement of the Korean revolution as a whole.
On the basis of a scientific analysis of the revolutionary situation created in our country after the war, our Party considered the postwar period the most appropriate stage for the socialist revolution, and in its April 1955 Theses, set forth the policy of stepping up the socialist revolution full scale.
The most important thing in transforming the old production relations in town and country and establishing the unchallenged supremacy of socialist production relations is the cooperativization of the individual peasant economy.
In the light of the specific postwar situation in our country our Party and the Government of the Republic advanced a policy to transform the economic forms along socialist lines prior to the technological reform of agriculture, and enterprizingly launched an agricultural cooperative movement.
Since the socialist transformation of agriculture was urgently demanded by the revolution after the war, we could not postpone agricultural cooperativization simply because the economy had been damaged and our technological development was still at a low level. The decisive condition for agricultural cooperativization does not lie in whether agriculture is equipped with modern technology but in whether this step is a vital demand of the peasants themselves, whether the revolutionary forces are prepared to carry it out. As Marxism-Leninism teaches us, even a collective economy which merely pools the peasants’ land and farm implements can achieve an improvement in the economy which would, otherwise, be impossible in the individual small peasant economy, and, at the same time, can raise the productivity of labour several times over. Thus, our Party waged a struggle to transform economic forms first in order to meet the urgent need of social development, instead of waiting until industrialization was carried out. As a result, we were able to restore and develop the productive forces of agriculture, which had been severely damaged by the war, rapidly, and to press ahead with the technical revolution in the country areas in step with industrial development.
In guiding the agricultural cooperative movement, our Party and the Government of the Republic strictly observed the voluntary principle. Our Party categorically rejected coercive methods in this movement and adopted a number of correct policies to persuade the peasants to join the cooperative economy voluntarily.
An object lesson in the cooperative movement is the best way of persuading the peasants engaged in centuries-old methods of individual farming to join cooperative farming voluntarily. We intensified the ideological education of the peasants, and at the same time, established a pilot stage and worked to show them the advantages of the cooperative economy by practical example.
Taking into consideration the fact that the land remained the private property of the peasants and that their property status and ideological awareness varied, we laid down three forms of agricultural cooperative economy and encouraged the peasants to choose the form they considered most appropriate for them. In pooling the peasants’ means of production, we saw to it that according to their desire, draught cattle and farm implements were pooled or were left under private ownership for a certain period while being used collectively, and when they were pooled, due compensation was made without fail. These measures taken by our Party helped the peasants of different levels to accept the policy of cooperativization readily and made it possible to prevent some deviations which, otherwise, might have appeared in the course of the cooperative movement.
In drawing the peasants of various levels into cooperative farming according to the voluntary principle, our Party followed the class policy of relying firmly on the poor peasants, strengthening the alliance with the middle peasants, and restricting and gradually reforming the rich peasants.
Our Party first organized a few agricultural cooperatives in each county on a trial basis with the poor peasants and the hard core of people in the rural areas who had most actively supported agricultural cooperativization, consolidated them and, on this basis, developed the cooperative movement. Meanwhile, the poor peasants were encouraged to play the leading role in all the agricultural cooperatives. It also made sure that cooperatives were not organized exclusively with well-to-do peasants and that the rich peasants were not allowed to influence the work of the agricultural cooperatives. At the same time, it strictly guarded against the tendency to force the middle peasants into the cooperative economy or infringe upon their interests and so weaken the alliance with them, and demonstrated the superiority of the cooperative economy to the middle peasants through competition between individual and cooperative farming. As for the rich peasants, we did not expropriate and eliminate them but encouraged them to join cooperatives voluntarily, restricting their ability to exploit others.
Throughout the period of the agricultural cooperative movement our Party and the Government of the Republic persistently carried out organizational and political work amongst the peasants, and, relying on socialist industry, gave enormous material and technical assistance in diverse forms to the agricultural cooperatives and helped them in terms of manpower. This guidance and assistance played a decisive role, both in shoring up the weak agricultural cooperatives organized with poor peasants in the early stage to show their advantages over the individual economy, and in consolidating the cooperative economic system politically and economically.
Thanks to these intelligent and creative policies of our Party and the Government of the Republic, our agricultural cooperative movement proceeded quite smoothly and was successfully completed in only four or five years.
To establish the unchallenged dominance of socialist production relations in town and country, it is necessary to carry out a socialist reorganization of individual trade and manufacturing as well as agricultural cooperativization.
In the early days of the transition period, our Party began to set up handicraft cooperatives on a trial basis, and in the postwar period, pressed ahead with this programme, carrying it out successfully in a short period.
In the socialist reorganization of individual trade and manufacturing, our Party and the Government of the Republic devoted particular attention to the transformation of capitalist trade and manufacturing. Taking into account their characteristic features in our country, our Party adopted the line of reforming the capitalist traders and manufacturers along socialist lines, instead of expropriating them.
The national capitalists in a colonial, semi-feudal society, although inconsistent, have some revolutionary spirit and are keenly interested in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution. In the light of these capitalists’ characteristics, we won them over to the side of the revolution and carried out the national-liberation struggle and the democratic revolution with their participation. From the beginning our policy with regard to the national capitalists was not only to carry out the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution with them, but also to take them along with us to a socialist, communist society. Therefore, we could not expropriate the entrepreneurs and traders in the stage of socialist revolution just because the capitalist traders and manufacturers were the targets of the revolution. Moreover, we had no need to expropriate them because capitalist trade and manufacturing were totally destroyed in the war and the entrepreneurs and traders supported the Party’s line of socialist revolution. And they had nothing, so we could not expropriate them.
Therefore, our Party adopted the line of transforming capitalist trade and manufacturing along socialist lines and ensured that capitalist traders and manufacturers were drawn into various forms of cooperative economy in strict observance of the voluntary principle as all requisite conditions for this were ripe after the war.
We first strengthened producers’ cooperatives, formed of handicraftsmen, and then gradually drew entrepreneurs into the cooperative economy; we organized marketing cooperatives or production-and-marketing cooperatives with individual traders and progressively increased the proportion of production in those cooperatives so as to reorganize them into cooperatives entirely engaged in production. Under the Party’s wise guidance, our socialist transformation of capitalist trade and manufacturing progressed at a very high speed and was completed in 1958 at almost the same time as agricultural cooperativization.
With the successful accomplishment of the historic task of the socialist transformation of the old production relations in town and country, an advanced socialist system free from exploitation and oppression was established in the northern half of our country. The victory of the socialist system in the north opened up a broad path for the further promotion of socialist construction and the radical improvement of the people’s material and cultural welfare.
Comrades, our Party and the Government of the Republic pressed ahead with the struggle for socialist construction relying on the triumphant socialist system.
In socialist construction our Party held fast to the principle of carrying on energetically both the work of laying the material and technological foundations for socialism and the work of educating and reforming people along communist lines, that is, the struggles to seize the material and ideological fortresses for the building of communism.
Socialist economic construction is one of the most important revolutionary tasks facing the working-class party and state. It is only when socialist economic construction is carried out successfully that it is possible to attain a high level of development of the productive forces commensurate with a socialist society, to improve the people’s material and cultural standards systematically, and to secure the political independence and Chajusong of the country.
Our people’s struggle for socialist economic construction went through three stages—the stage of postwar reconstruction, the stage of laying the basis of industrialization and the stage of completing industrialization. At every stage of socialist economic construction our Party and the Government of the Republic set forth correct lines and policies which suited our specific conditions and organized and mobilized all the Party members and the working people for a powerful struggle for their implementation.
Over the whole period of socialist economic construction our Party has consistently adhered to the basic line of socialist economic construction on giving priority to the growth of heavy industry at the same time as developing light industry and agriculture.
This basic line is a correct line built on an accurate analysis of the requirements of the law of our postwar economic development and our actual potential. It is also a creative application of the Marxist-Leninist theory on extended reproduction in conformity with our specific conditions; it is a correct line which renders it possible to guarantee the balance between different branches of the national economy and attain a high rate of production growth.
In implementing this line our Party and the Government of the Republic gave priority to the creation of heavy industry with the machine industry at its core.
Our Party’s line in the building of heavy industry was to create our own solid bases which would be able to produce most of the raw materials, fuel, power, machines and equipment needed for the development of the national economy by relying on the rich natural resources and sources of raw materials in our country. In order to build solid heavy industry bases we rebuilt and expanded the existing factories in this field and, at the same time, built new industrial branches and a number of factories and other enterprises. In building heavy industry, we ensured that this industry was not built as an end in itself, but to serve the development of light industry and agriculture and the improvement of the people’s living standards more effectively. This policy of our Party has enabled us to build a powerful heavy industry of our own with a comparatively small capital investment, thereby developing light industry and agriculture rapidly.
Today we have a powerful heavy industry with all its key branches, and its capacity has increased considerably. Our machine industry, in particular, has made rapid progress. It has reached such a level that it is now able to produce different kinds of large, precision machines and complete sets of equipment for modern factories.
Our Party and the Government of the Republic have devoted considerable effort to the growth of light industry as well.
In this regard, our Party pursued a policy of simultaneously developing large-scale, centrally-run industries as well as medium- and small-scale local industries. Our Party and the Government of the Republic ensured that large, modern factories of the centrally-run light industry were established, and at the same time, that many local industry factories were set up by using local reserves extensively and that the technological reconstruction of local industry was increased.
The policy of developing central and local industries simultaneously has helped to increase the production of consumer goods rapidly, with no major capital investment from the state, and to guarantee a high rate of development of the national economy as a whole by concentrating state funds on heavy and central light industries. The growth of local industry has also made it possible to purchase and process, in season, farm produce and the peasants’ sideline products raising their living standards rapidly and improving the supply of consumer goods for urban dwellers as well.
As a result of the successful implementation of our Party’s policy in the development of light industry, large, modern factories of central light industry and thousands of local factories have now come into being, and their technological equipment has been improved to a marked extent. Our light industry has now grown into a firm base for the production of a variety of consumer goods, capable of meeting the working people’s needs.
The rational distribution of the productive forces is of great importance for the further development of the national economy as a whole and for carrying out the long-term programme of socialist and communist construction successfully.
In distributing the country’s productive forces, our Party and the Government of the Republic followed the principle of bringing factories and other enterprises closer to the sources of raw materials and the consumer areas, of guaranteeing the balanced development of different branches of the national economy and all regions of the country, and rapidly narrowing the difference between town and country. In rebuilding the national economy after the war, we, in accordance with this principle, located new factories and enterprises in different areas, while rebuilding many factories and enterprises where they already existed in order to guarantee the speeding up of rehabilitation and to save funds. As a result, new industrial towns came into being all over the country, the integrated bases for industrial production were built in localities and the previous defects and irrationalities in the distribution of industries were completely eliminated.
The rational distribution of industries enabled us to use our nation’s natural resources and manpower effectively to speed up socialist economic construction and develop all the areas of the country equally. It also helped to consolidate the worker-peasant alliance by strengthening the political, economic and cultural ties between the working class and the peasantry, to eliminate the backwardness of the countryside and drastically reduce the difference between town and country, and class differences between the workers and peasants, by increasing the assistance of industry to agriculture and the support of towns for the rural areas. Moreover, it prevented excessive concentration of factories and population in a few cities as well as environmental pollution, which is a great social problem in capitalist countries today.
One of the main tasks in socialist economic construction is that of developing agriculture rapidly. Our Party and the Government of the Republic strove to consolidate the material and technological foundations of agriculture and increase its production while cooperativizing the individual peasant economy. In particular, we gave top priority to the ideological revolution in the countryside, in accordance with our Party’s programme of socialist rural construction. Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country, and, at the same time, vigorously carried out the technical and cultural revolutions.
Irrigation was a primary task in the technical revolution in our country areas. In the years that followed the armistice the Government of the Republic implemented many irrigation projects in step with the agricultural cooperative movement and, with the completion of cooper-ativization, pushed ahead with the irrigation programme in a nationwide movement. In our country the irrigation of paddy fields has now been completed and a large portion of non-paddy fields has been irrigated, and drainage projects have been completed in our major rice-producing areas. Thus our peasants’ centuries-old desire to farm free from the threat of drought and floods has been met.
The Government of the Republic ensured that many medium and small power stations were built in addition to large ones and thus successfully completed the task of rural electrification. Every ri in this country now has electricity and every farmhouse has electric light. In the country areas, electricity is used extensively not only for the cultural home lives of the peasants but also as a source of power for machines and heat in agricultural production.
The Government of the Republic has also devoted a great deal of effort to developing mechanization and encouraging the use of chemicals in agriculture. Our Party and the Government of the Republic have guaranteed that tractors, lorries and various kinds of efficient farm machines, chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals were produced in large quantities for the country areas. As a result, the level of mechanization and the use of chemicals in agriculture have risen greatly and our peasants are gradually being freed from hard and backbreaking work.
Agricultural production has increased rapidly with the progress of the rural technical revolution. Our rural areas, where poverty and ignorance prevailed in the past, have now become rich modern socialist communities.
Training our own cadres was a matter of vital importance in this country which was once a backward colony. Immediately following liberation, our nation had very few cadres, and this was a serious drawback in running the state and building our economy and culture. Therefore, our Party and the Government of the Republic devoted great efforts to the training of our own cadres and, in particular, took steps to train a large army of technicians capable of carrying out socialist construction which was proceeding on a large scale after the war. We developed a regular system of higher education as well as various programmes offering higher education for those who were already working, and firmly established comprehensive cadre-training bases in the localities. Consequently, our country now has a large army of some 500,000 technicians and specialists. They are managing state and economic organizations and cultural institutions, and modern factories, enterprises and cooperative farms very well.
Our people’s struggle for the socialist revolution and the building of socialism was carried on under the very difficult conditions of the enemy’s constant hostile actions. In order to defend the country and the people and protect the gains of the revolution in the face of the enemy’s aggression, our Party and the Government of the Republic paid great attention to increasing our defence capabilities throughout the whole course of the revolution and construction work. In particular, we advanced the new line of carrying on economic and defence construction simultaneously in the light of the intensified aggressive actions of the US imperialists. We reorganized the whole work of socialist construction in a revolutionary way and paid more attention to building up our defence capabilities. In order to perfect our national defence we diverted a large amount of manpower and material resources to this purpose, even though this to a certain extent proved detrimental to economic construction, and organized and mobilized all the people to implement the Party’s military line. As a result, our People’s Army has now become an invincible revolutionary armed force; all our people have been armed and the whole country has been fortified. We can confidently say that we have defence capabilities which are powerful enough to repulse invasion by any and all enemies, defend our country and people, and protect our revolutionary gains.
Educating and transforming people along communist lines is one of the most important tasks of socialist and communist construction.
Man is the master of nature and society and the main factor that decides everything. The popular masses are the masters of a socialist society, and they are also the ones who are able to promote the revolution and construction work. Therefore, if we are to build socialism and communism, we must not only lay the country’s firm material and technological foundations, but also educate and reform people, the masters of society, along communist lines and bring their creative wisdom and revolutionary enthusiasm into full play.
Our Party and the Government of the Republic advanced a correct line and policy to educate and reform the people at every stage of the revolution and construction, and worked hard to implement this. In the period of socialist revolution we strove to turn all members of society into socialist working people through a close linking of the transformation of economic forms with the reformation of people. After the triumph of the socialist system, we pressed ahead with the re-education of the people along communist lines, on the basis of the line of revolutionizing and working-classizing the whole of society.
In educating and reforming people, our Party and the Government of the Republic have always kept to the principle of raising the ideological preparedness, the sense of organization and the cultural level of the working class and of educating and reforming the peasants and intellectuals on the working-class model.
We increased the class awareness of the workers, first of all, by strengthening political and ideological work amongst them, constantly tempered them in actual production and carried out a strong campaign for the organizational and ideological consolidation of the ranks of the working class. This greatly increased the vanguard role of the working class in the revolution and construction, and strengthened their revolutionary influence on the working people. Our working class has now become the most advanced and revolutionary class which, instead of working for a few pence, works with complete devotion for the prosperity and progress of the country and the freedom and happiness of the people. It is discharging its duties admirably as the leading class of the Korean revolution.
Our Party and the Government of the Republic also paid great attention to educating and reforming the peasantry, one of the main forces of the revolution. By intensifying the working-class guidance and assistance to the country areas we have accelerated the technical and cultural revolutions there and have, at the same time, pressed ahead with the ideological revolution. As a result, the peasants’ level of ideological consciousness has risen markedly and they have adopted a revolutionary and communist way of life. As reliable builders of socialism our peasants are today working faithfully for society and the collective, and are striving to supply more food to the workers and all other working people and to produce sufficient raw materials for light industry.
The working class which has assumed power must build up the ranks of the intellectuals. This is essential for the rapid development of science and technology, literature and art and for the successful building of socialism and communism. In the whole course of the revolution and construction, our Party and the Government of the Republic have perseveringly carried on the education of intellectuals and, in particular, directed great efforts to the education and reformation of old intellectuals. With the implementation of the Party’s policy on the education and reformation of our intellectuals, they have become transformed into socialist working intellectuals and are confidently advancing along the road indicated by the Party. Our intellectuals are not working for fame or glory, but for the Party and the revolution, for the country and the people with all their knowledge and talents, and are fighting vigorously side by side with the workers and peasants in the same revolutionary ranks to consolidate and develop our socialist system.
The education and reformation of the working people are tasks designed to eliminate all outdated ideas which remain in their minds and overcome their old habits and arm them with the revolutionary ideas of the working class, communist ideology. Our Party and the Government of the Republic, therefore, have conducted the work of educating and reforming people by means of explanation and persuasion with the main emphasis on ideological education. We intensified the education of the working people in Party policy and, at the same time, patiently carried on communist education with class education as its main content, so that all the working people have been firmly armed with the advanced revolutionary ideas of the working class, communist ideology.
Strengthening revolutionary organizational life is one of the important ways to educate and reform people along communist lines. Our Party and the Government of the Republic have paid particular attention to encouraging all the working people to take an active part in organizational life, observe organizational discipline voluntarily and conduct their lives under the guidance and supervision of their organizations. In particular, we have carried on the ideological struggle by the method of criticism and have tempered the working people in a revolutionary spirit through the ideological struggle.
Our Party and the Government of the Republic closely combined practical activities with the work of educating and reforming people through the Chollima Workteam Movement’s, and guaranteed that tills work became the work of the masses themselves.
With the successful progress of the education and reformation of the working people in a communist way, a great change has taken place in the political and ideological life of our people and our revolutionary ranks have been strengthened and developed into an invincible force.
Under our Party’s wise guidance the Government of the Republic has achieved great successes in the revolutionary struggle and work of construction in the past years. It has established the most advanced socialist system in this land where exploitation and oppression prevailed before, and converted our backward colonial agrarian country in a very short time into a socialist power with its solid independent national economy and enormous defence capacities. It has brought about a brilliant flowering and development of science and culture and achieved great success also in the work of revolutionizing and workmg-classizmg the whole of society. We have won great victories in the socialist revolution and building of socialism and risen to a new peak which lies on our way to socialism and communism.
2. THE SUPERIORITY OF OUR SOCIALIST SYSTEM
Comrades, The outstanding success achieved in all spheres of politics, economy and culture since the triumph of our socialist revolution is graphic evidence of the superiority and indestructible vitality of our socialist system.
Our socialist system is the most advanced social system where the working masses are masters of everything and where everything in society serves the working masses.
The working masses transform nature and society and make history, The creative labour and struggle of the working masses produce all the material riches of society and bring about social change and progress. That is why the working masses should become masters of society and enjoy all its material wealth.
The working masses are not, however, masters of their society in every society. People’s position in society is determined by whether or not they hold state power and the means of production in their hands. Only those who have both can be the masters of society.
In an exploiting society, the toiling masses are not the masters of society but victims of exploitation and oppression, suffering all kinds of humiliations and insults to their dignity, because they hold no state power and own no means of production. In a capitalist society where money is everything, even the dignity of a man is determined by the amount of money he has; poor people are treated like commodities.
Only in a socialist society can the working masses enjoy an independent and creative life as real masters of society. Today all our government policies are geared to the interests and happiness of the workers, peasants and other working people; all the wealth of society is dedicated to the promotion of their welfare. In our society the working masses are valued highly and they and their rights are respected. In this country, especially, the rising generation who represents the future of society are treasured more than anyone else; every effort is made to bring them up to be happy, free from the social evils inherent in an exploiting society.
The fact that the working masses in a socialist society are the masters of society and that they and their rights are respected to the utmost is explained precisely by their being masters of state power and the means of production. This is the basis of all the advantages and indestructible vitality of the socialist system.
Our socialist system is a genuinely democratic system which guarantees in practice the political rights and liberties of the workers, peasants and other working people.
Regardless of sex, occupation, property status, education and party affiliation, all our working people have the right to elect and to be elected and are guaranteed all rights to and freedom of social and political activities such as speech, the press, assembly and demonstration. The workers, peasants and other working people, who were formerly held in bondage without any rights, now participate directly in state administration and politics as masters of state power and conduct free social and political activities as members of political parties and social organizations. Our working people today enjoy a dignified and fruitful life with genuine political rights and liberties under the socialist system.
By contrast, in a capitalist society where state power is in the hands of the small minority of exploiting classes, the working masses have no political rights or freedoms. The working people do not even have the most elementary right and freedom to express their political views, to say nothing of the right to participate in state power; they only have the obligation to obey the exploiting classes. The so-called “liberties” and “rights” loudly advertised by capitalists are confined exclusively to the rulers and exploiting classes to oppress and exploit the masses of the people; the “democracy” they advocate is nothing but a means of camouflage to cover up the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
The superiority of our socialist system also lies in the fact that the state takes full responsibility for the material and cultural well-being of the workers, peasants and other working people.
Providing an equally prosperous life for the people and systematically improving their material and cultural standards is one of the intrinsic characteristics of the socialist system. In a socialist society the state serves the interests of the people and is responsible for ensuring the material and cultural well-being of the working people, whereas the state in an exploiting society serves as a tool of oppression and exploitation against the workers and peasants.
Today everyone of working age in our country is provided with a job by the state, according to his ability and aptitude, and is rewarded according to the quantity and quality of work done. The working people also benefit from labour protection, an eight-hour workday, paid holidays, and accommodation at holiday homes and sanatoria; they are provided with safe working conditions and adequate leisure time. In particular, the working mothers enjoy tremendous benefits from the state. Besides providing jobs for all who can work, our state also assumes responsibility for those who cannot work because of old age, injuries arising from work or ill health, and for old people and children who have no other means of support. Therefore, in our country no one roams about searching for work or resorts to begging; all our people, young and old, are leading a happy life under the care of the state and society.
All our working people are provided with adequate food, clothing and housing by the state. Everyone in this land is given the right to be fed the moment he is born; all children and students, from those in creches and kindergartens to students in colleges and universities, are supplied with clothing by the state. The state provides our workers and office employees with good living quarters, and the peasants also live in modern houses built by the state.
Universal free medical care has also been introduced in this country, so that all working people are free from worries about this. There are medical institutions and medical workers in both urban and rural areas, wherever people work and live. Through the section doctor system, an advanced system of medical services, the state looks after the health of the working people in a responsible way. Our mortality rate has now been reduced by half, and the average life span of the people increased by 26 years, compared with the pre-liberation years. Our people’s age-old desire to eradicate all sorts of diseases has been realized only under our sodal system.
Everyone in this country is provided with adequate conditions for education and development. All our students, from primary school children to university students, now receive free education, and preschool children are growing up happily in creches and kindergartens at state and public expense. In particular, with the introduction of universal compulsory ten-year education which gives ten years of schooling, plus one year of compulsory preschool training, our younger generation are receiving eleven years of excellent general education provided by the state. This is virtually an eleven-year compulsory education, which means that the most advanced compulsory education in the world is given in this country.
The socialist state also offers opportunities of learning for the adults who were previously deprived of the right to study in the exploiting society and left far behind in terms of social culture. All our working people are learning to the best of their ability in accordance with their desire and aptitude, in working people’s middle schools, factory higher technical schools, factory colleges and other educational institutions where they study while on the job. Indeed, our country is a “land of education”, a “land of learning”, where everyone studies at the expense of the state.
Although they do not live in luxury like the landlords and capitalists, all our people are now living an equally good life and studying according to their wishes, without having to worry about work, food, clothing and housing. This clearly shows that our socialist system is a system truly for the workers, farmers and all the other people.
The socialist system is the best social system, not only providing the people with a happy life today but also promising them a brighter future. Since all the fruits of labour in socialist society are used for social progress and for improving the welfare of the working people, increasing social wealth brings the people ever greater abundance and an ever higher level of cultural life.
However, in a capitalist society the handful of exploiters grow richer with each passing day, whereas the working people making up the overwhelming majority of the population become more and more impoverished and miserable. A capitalist society is a society where “the rich get ever richer and the poor get ever poorer,” the gulf between the exploiting and the exploited classes growing daily; it is a living hell where the working masses are impoverished and starved.
All these facts make us take great pride in our socialist system, a people’s social system which is truly for the workers, peasants and working intellectuals.
In our country the economy, culture, science and technology are making steady rapid progress. This is one of the great advantages of our socialist system.
A socialist society provides every opportunity and possibility for the rapid and continuous development of the economy. In this society a planned and balanced economic development is guaranteed by the state through a planned mobilization and use of all the nation’s manpower and material resources and through a coordinated control and guidance of production, distribution, accumulation and consumption. In this society the working people also display a high degree of revolutionary enthusiasm and creative initiative in their productive activities, since they work for their society and collective and for their own welfare as masters of the country.
As the functions of the state as an economic organizer increase and the ideological consciousness of the working people grows in our country, the economy develops steadily at a high rate. Our industrial production grew at a high rate—an annual average of 19.1 per cent—throughout the period of industrialization from 1957 to 1970, and the difficult and complex task of socialist industrialization was creditably accomplished in a very short time, in only 14 years.
In a socialist society literature and art flower brilliantly. The socialist system has placed not only state power and the means of production but also literature and art in the hands of the people, and thus opened up a highway for the development of literature and art and made them true literature and art which serve the working masses.
Today broad sections of our working people are taking an active part in literary and artistic activities and enjoy them to their hearts’ content. Because of their popular and revolutionary character our literature and art are developed into full bloom, enjoying the boundless affection of the people.
It is one of the essential advantages of the socialist system that the politico-ideological unity of the popular masses is strengthened and the relationship of comradely cooperation between the working people develops day by day.
The elimination of the exploiting classes and all kinds of exploiting systems has fundamentally changed the position and social status of the workers, peasants and working intellectuals. The establishment of the socialist system has made all our people socialist working people and wrought a radical change in their mental and moral qualities. Because of their common socio-economic status and their common goals and interests, our working class, cooperative farmers and working intellectuals are firmly united politically and ideologically and cooperate closely with each other as comrades.
In a capitalist society which is built on rabid selfishness and where the law of the jungle prevails, fraud and swindling are rampant and people are antagonistic and hostile to each other, and it is a common practice for them to sacrifice others for their own fame and career, comfort and pleasure. In our society, however, all its members are imbued with true comradeship, respecting, trusting and cooperating with each other on the principle of collectivism. Our working people are fully displaying the fine communist spirit of moving ahead together, the informed teaching theless informed and the advanced leading the less advanced forward.
Today our society has been turned into a great, harmonious Red family where all the people are dosely united as a political force; in this great family everyone is working and living filled with revolutionary enthusiasm and optimism. All the people are united politically and ideologically and working with revolutionary zeal. This is precisely the basis of the solidity of our society and the source of our indestructible strength.
Our socialist system is displaying its superiority and unbreakable vitality more fully with every passing day.
Through their own experience our people are convinced that only the socialist system can guarantee genuine liberties and rights to the working masses and provide them with a most bountiful and happy life; they regard it as the greatest honour and pleasure to live and make revolution under this system. The people in the northern half of the Republic will not surrender to anyone our socialist system which they themselves have chosen and whose superiority and great vitality have been unequivocally proved, and they are all aglow with a determination to fight on staunchly to consolidate and develop this system.
3. THE MAIN CONTENT OF THE SOCIALIST CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Comrades, The current session of the Supreme People’s Assembly is going to adopt the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK with a view to consolidating the socialist system established in the northern half of the Republic and intensifying the struggle for the complete victory of socialism.
The new Socialist Constitution correctly reflects the achievements made in the socialist revolution and in building socialism in our country, defines the principles to be followed in governing activities in the political, economic and cultural fields in a socialist society and the basic rights and duties of citizens, and stipulates the composition and functions of the state organs and the principles of their activities. Its purpose is to give legal protection to the socialist system and the dictatorship of the proletariat established in the northern half of the Republic and to serve the revolutionary cause of the working class.
The Socialist Constitution of the DPRK legislatively affirms the political victories and successes attained by our people in the revolutionary struggle in past years and defines the character and functions of our state and the principles of its activity to meet the needs of our revolutionary development.
It proclaims the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea an independent socialist state. In our country the socialist system has been established, the political and ideological unity of the entire people resting on the worker-peasant alliance led by the working class strengthened with this system as its basis and the historic task of socialist industrialization creditably accomplished. As a result, the Government of the Republic has been strengthened and developed into a socialist power on a new socialist basis and a firm political foundation.
The sovereignty of the DPRK belongs to the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals. The Supreme People’s Assembly and local people’s assemblies at all levels are composed of deputies representing the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals, and they manage and operate the state organs. Our state is a genuine state of the workers and peasants in which the working masses are the masters of the country and all the people exercise power. Therefore, our state regards it as its supreme duty to protect the interests of the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals freed from exploitation and oppression for ever.
The Government of our Republic which has inherited the glorious revolutionary traditions of our people is guided in its activity by the Juche idea which is a creative application of Marxism-Leninism in the conditions of our country, and strives to execute the lines and policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
It is the fundamental revolutionary task of the Government of the Republic to attain the complete victory of socialism in the northern half of the Republic, expel foreign forces on a nationwide scale and achieve the reunification and independence of the country on a democratic basis. For the successful implementation of this task we must, first of all, strengthen the function and role of our Government to intensify the struggle against the hostile elements at home and abroad who are opposed to our socialist system, and accelerate the ideological revolution to revolutionize and working-classize all the members of society.
The Socialist Constitution makes it clear that in its activities the Government of our Republic must always carry through the class and mass lines, give priority to political work, work with people in all matters as required by the Chongsanri spirit and Chongsanri method to rouse the voluntary enthusiasm of the masses, and persistently keep up the Chollima Movement, our Party’s general line in socialist construction, thus pressing ahead with communist education and the reformation of the working people and economic construction.
It also clearly stipulates the duties of the armed forces of the DPRK and the national defence policy based on the principle of self-defence as well as the foreign policy of the Republic based on the principles of complete equality and Chajusong, Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.
The Socialist Constitution of the DPRK legally affirms the achievements attained by our people in the building of an independent national economy and clarifies the principles governing our socio-economic life.
The socialist ownership of the means of production is the economic foundation of the DPRK. All the economic activities of our state and the socio-economic life of the working people are thoroughly based on the principles of socialism, and the nation’s economy is steadily developing at a very high rate, on the basis of the socialist relations of production which have held undivided sway in town and country. The economic power of the DPRK is firmly guaranteed by the great superiority of socialist production relations and the solid foundations of an independent national economy.
Labour is one of the most important elements which form the basis of socio-economic life in a socialist society. The Socialist Constitution gives a clear definition of the character of labour, the principles governing the working life of the working people and the socialist principle of distribution in our society.
Socialism and communism can only be built by the creative labour of the working millions. It is a solemn duty and the greatest honour of the working people in a socialist society to love work and participate conscientiously in the communal labour for the building of socialism and communism. All our working people take part in labour, and work for the sake of their country and people and for their own welfare, displaying voluntary enthusiasm and creativity.
The fruits of labour in our country are allocated entirely for national prosperity and progress and the promotion of the well-being of the working people. It is an immutable socialist principle that all the working people work according to their ability and take their share according to the quantity and quality of work done. Our state regards the steady improvement of the people’s material and cultural life as its primary duty, as the supreme principle guiding its activities.
The Socialist Constitution stipulates the socialist form of economic management and the principle of state guidance of the economy in our country.
The Taean work system, under which the economy is managed in a scientific and rational way on the basis of the collective strength of the producer masses, and the new system of agricultural guidance, under which agriculture is directed by industrial methods, are the best socialist forms of economic management, whose superiority has been clearly proved in practice. In addition, unified and detailed planning constitute the socialist system and method of planning, which make it possible to tighten the discipline of democratic centralism in economic management and ensure a high rate of growth in production and the balanced development of the national economy. The decisive guarantee for the successful building of the socialist economy is to give full rein to the superiority of the socialist economic management systems created by our Party and guide and manage the economy to meet the requirements of these systems.
The Socialist Constitution also sets forth the economic tasks of laying firmer material and technological foundations of socialism, emancipating the working people once and for all from heavy labour, gradually turning cooperative property into all-people’s property and eliminating the differences between town and country and the class distinction between workers and peasants.
The Socialist Constitution of the DPRK, on the basis of the shining achievements made by our people in the development of culture, makes clear the direction to be taken in carrying out the cultural revolution thoroughly and accelerating the building of a socialist national culture, as well as the principles which must be observed by the state in this sphere, The basic aim of the cultural revolution in a socialist society is to train all the working people to be competent builders of socialism and communism with a profound knowledge of nature and society and a high level of technology, and make our culture a true people’s revolutionary culture which serves the socialist working people. To attain this aim of the cultural revolution, we must resolutely combat cultural infiltration by imperialism and any tendency to return to the past and rapidly develop education, science, literature and art and all other domains of socialist cultural construction on a sound basis.
The Socialist Constitution specifically explains the state’s educational policy of carrying through the principles of socialist education and combining general education closely with technical education, and education with productive labour, as well as vital people’s education programmes such as the introduction of compulsory ten-year education for all our young people under working age. The Constitution also elucidates our state’s revolutionary policies for developing science, literature and art, physical culture and sports and the public health service.
The Socialist Constitution of the DPRK explicitly provides for the basic rights and duties of citizens in keeping with the intrinsic nature of a socialist society. In this country where there is no exploitation or oppression and where social and individual interests are in full accord, the citizens’ rights and duties are based on the collectivist principle of “One for all and all for one”. The basic rights of citizens laid down in the Socialist Constitution are legal confirmation of the democratic rights and liberties enjoyed by our people in their daily social life. The duties of citizens as stipulated in the Constitution are honourable duties which must be fulfilled by the people, as the masters of their country, in consolidating and developing the socialist system and in making their homeland richer and stronger.
The Socialist Constitution of the DPRK contains new provisions concerning the composition and functions of the state organs, and the principles of their activity to suit the existing conditions of revolutionary development.
The new state structure instituted under the Socialist Constitution will allow the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals to take a more active part in state affairs and state administration and enable state organs to serve the people’s interests better and push ahead more vigorously with the revolutionary struggle and work of construction by improving their functions and role.
Our organs of power are composed of representatives of the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals; they protect the interests of the working people and fight for the people’s freedom and welfare. The new state structure is built in such a way that the activities of administrative bodies are always supervised and controlled by the popular masses. Under the new state structure, unlike the old one, the people’s committees are separated from administrative bodies, and the former which are composed of representatives of the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals are to perform the function of exercising day-to-day supervision and control over the latter’s activities, so that officials of the administrative bodies will be able to do away with bureaucracy in their work and serve the people better.
The Socialist Constitution defines the principles of democratic centralism as the basic principle of organization and activity for all state organs. Democratic centralism in their organization and activity makes it possible for them to carry out Party lines and policies in a coordinated way throughout the country and organize and mobilize the entire population for the work of building socialism and communism. Since they are based on democratic centralism, the organs of people’s power are able to perform their functions and role satisfactorily as a powerful tool for the building of socialism and communism.
The Socialist Constitution of the DPRK is a most popular constitution for the benefit of the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals. The new Constitution fully reflects their will and desire and thoroughly defends the working people’s interests. The new Constitution also gives all the people genuine freedoms and rights in all spheres of social life and legally guarantees all conditions to make them viable.
The Socialist Constitution of the DPRK is a most revolutionary constitution. Unlike those constitutions which refer mainly to the state structure, our Socialist Constitution, which lays down all the principles governing the political, economic and cultural activities in a socialist. society, will serve as a sharp weapon of the proletarian dictatorship to protect the policy of our Party and the Government of the Republic and firmly defend the gains of the socialist revolution, as a powerful means for giving a strong impetus to socialist economic construction and for revolutionizing and working-classizing the whole of society by intensifying the ideological and cultural revolutions and establishing a socialist way of life.
With the institution of the Socialist Constitution, the Government of the Republic will have a new weapon of the proletarian dictatorship and our people will be provided with a dependable legal guarantee in the struggle to achieve the complete victory of socialism and the independent, peaceful reunification of the country. The coming into force of the Socialist Constitution in the northern half of the Republic will greatly encourage the people in south Korea who are fighting for the democ-ratization of society and the country’s independent, peaceful reunification.
With the Socialist Constitution coming into force a change will take place in the political, economic and cultural life of our people and they will advance with redoubled strength along the path of socialism and communism, deeply convinced of the justness of their cause.
4. OUR TASKS IN THE CONSOLIDATION AND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM
Comrades, The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and our people are confronted today with the historic task of consolidating and developing the socialist system and attaining the complete victory of socialism, by promoting the revolutionary struggle and construction unflaggingly, on the basis of the brilliant achievements gained in building a new society.
In order to achieve the complete victory of socialism we must eliminate the differences between towns and the country areas and the class distinction between the workers and the peasants, reinforce the material and technical foundations of socialism, markedly improve the material and cultural standards of the people, smash the insidious schemes of hostile classes and do away with the corrosive influence of old ideas once and for all.
The struggle for the complete victory of socialism is a battle for the final liquidation of the vestiges of the old society from all spheres of social life; it is a battle to transform society on the pattern of the working class in all realms of the economy and culture, ideology and morality. To attain the complete victory of socialism, therefore, the working-class party and state must press ahead with the fight to occupy two fortresses, the material and the ideological, on the way to the building of communism. We must continue to promote the technical, cultural and ideological revolutions to consolidate the socialist system and achieve the complete victory of socialism.
The basic goal of the technical revolution at the present stage is to carry out successfully its three major tasks as set out at the Fifth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
These three tasks which aim to narrow the disparity between heavy and light labour and between agricultural and industrial labour considerably and to free women from the heavy burden of household chores, are an honourable undertaking to guarantee the complete victory of socialism; they are a strategic task facing us in socialist construction after socialist industrialization. To fulfil these three major tasks is the basic way to release the working people from arduous labour, provide them fully with equal working conditions and speed up the technological reconstruction of the national economy and the development of the productive forces. Furthermore, only when these tasks are carried out, will it be possible to succeed in solving the questions of raising the technical and cultural standards of the working people, reforming their ideological consciousness and eliminating the difference between town and country and the class distinction between workers and peasants.
Holding the three major tasks of the technical revolution set forth by the Party as the paramount question in socialist economic construction at present, the Government of the Republic will strive for their successful implementation.
In order to reduce the distinction between heavy and light labour and eliminate work in excessive heat or under other harmful conditions, we must raise the general level of mechanization, semi-automation and full-scale automation where these work conditions exist. We must also introduce the comprehensive mechanization of agriculture and the greater use of chemicals on a wide scale to reduce the difference between agricultural and industrial labour. At the same time, in order to free our women from the heavy burden of household drudgery, we must provide them with adequate conditions to do kitchen and other household work quickly and easily. In order to reach these three major targets a vigorous mass movement for technological innovation must be started in all fields of the national economy, bringing about a new advance in production.
We must first make an effort to develop the machine industry and bring about an improvement in this branch.
The technical revolution is essentially a mechanical revolution. Machinery is the determining factor in alleviating people’s arduous labour, and the productive forces are also developed by the improvement of machinery. The successful carrying out of the three major tasks of the technical revolution depends, in the final analysis, on whether or not various kinds of modern machinery and equipment are produced satisfactorily through the rapid development of the machine industry.
To advance the machine industry, priority must be given to increasing the production of machine tools rapidly and steadily. True to the Party’s call, the heroic workers in this industry have recently brought about an innovation in the production of machine tools and admirably attained the production goal of 30,000 units per annum, thus opening up bright prospects for the victorious implementation of the three major tasks of the technical revolution. Workers in the machine industry, not resting content with this victory, must work hard to continue increasing the production of machine tools while consolidating the success already achieved and, in particular, must work hard to increase the variety and improve the quality.
A rapid increase in the production of tractors and lorries is urgently needed for the fulfilment of the three major tasks of the technical revolution and this is one of the most important tasks confronting the machine industry. To carry out the comprehensive mechanization of agriculture successfully, our Party advanced a policy of providing 6-7 tractors and one lorry for every 100 hectares of fields in the near future. So that this policy can be thoroughly implemented, the tractor- and lorry-manufacturing centres must be expanded and consolidated and a new innovation be effected in their production. If this is done, we should attain an annual production level of 30,000 tractors and 15,000-30,000 lorries in a year or two.
An important task now lacing the machine industry is to increase the production of heavy machines and especially-ordered plant. We must expand and consolidate the heavy-machine production centres to manufacture greater quantities of universal drilling machines, large bulldozers and excavators and various other kinds of heavy machines needed for the extractive industries and large projects to harness nature, as well as large ships, and improvements must be made in the production of especially-ordered plant.
In order to introduce semi-automation and complete automation extensively in all fields of the national economy we must develop the electronics and automation industries rapidly. Different kinds of automation components, gauges and instruments must be mass-produced by making the best use of the existing foundation of the electronics and automation industries and, at the same time, many small and medium branch factories must be developed to produce automation parts, gauges and instruments.
In order to develop the machine industry quickly and fully guarantee huge construction work we must increase the production of different kinds of iron and steel materials and nonferrous metals significantly by concentrating on the improvement of the metal industry. Projects now under way to reconstruct and enlarge the Kim Chaek Iron Works, the Kangson Steel Plant and other metallurgical plants on up-to-date lines must be completed quickly to bring about a radical growth of production and, at the same time, we must work hard to build another large modern metallurgical base. In addition, the production of various nonferrous metals must be drastically increased through the consolidation of their production centres and the maximum use of the production capacities of the smelters.
To give priority to the extractive and power industries is an important guarantee for the successful fulfilment of the three major tasks of the technical revolution and for swift progress in all realms of the national economy. In the extractive industries, geological prospecting must always be given priority and the level of mechanization and automation at coal and ore mines must be raised determinedly through a dynamic technical innovation movement and, as a result, new innovations will be made in production. In the power industry, production should be raised to the maximum by taking good care of the equipment of the existing power stations and, simultaneously, the construction of new projects must be speeded up to hasten their commissioning.
An important task of the chemical industry is to expand and consolidate the raw material base for light industry and steadily augment the production of chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals needed for the technical revolution in country areas. The workers in the chemical industry have already scored great achievements in the fight to fulfil the Six-Year Plan. In particular, the production of vinalon and vinyl chloride this year has already exceeded the level envisaged for the end of the Six-Year Plan. In the chemical industry we must work, from now onwards, to make better use of the existing production capacities and, at the same time, strive to create up-to-date chemical industrial centres. We must also normalize the production of ammonia through gasification and markedly raise the proportion of phosphatic and microelement fertilizers in the production of chemical fertilizers. In addition, we have to build up the paper-making centres to supply sufficient paper needed for both universal compulsory ten-year education and the cultural revolution.
We must carry out enormous construction work for the successful implementation of the three major tasks of the technical revolution and for further progress in the national economy. In capital construction we have to concentrate our efforts on major projects which are of primary significance in national economic development and the improvement of the people’s living conditions, in accordance with our Party’s policy of concentrated construction, and thus hasten their commissioning as much as we can.
We must make every effort to develop the building-materials and timber industries, so that the demands for different construction materials are fully met.
The rapid development of light industry is extremely important in radically improving the people’s living standards and freeing women from the heavy burden of household chores. The Government of the Republic must pay particular attention to the development of the textile and garment industries and, in particular, strive to modernize the daily necessities and food-processing industries. In order to streamline these latter, the machine industry must produce large quantities of different single-purpose machines. We must modernize the daily necessities and food-processing industries as soon as possible through a mass campaign for one machine to make another and for one factory to build another, and thus bring about a great change in the production of consumer goods and food.
The main task in narrowing the differences between agricultural and industrial labour and freeing the peasants from arduous work is to effect the overall, comprehensive mechanization of agriculture. In farming, we have to raise the level of mechanization radically and concentrate our efforts particularly on the introduction of mechanization in intermediary areas, in keeping with the rapid growth in the production of tractors and lorries. We must carry out the comprehensive mechanization of agriculture successfully; this can be done by making maximum use of tractors through the enlargement of tractor repair bases and tractor implement production centres and the extensive levelling and realigning of fields. In addition, we must increase the use of agricultural chemicals and widely introduce advanced methods of farming and so bring about a fresh advance in agricultural production.
Transport plays a vital part in carrying out the three major tasks of the technical revolution. In this branch we must continue to speed up railway electrification and press ahead with the construction of new railway lines and harbours, so that the material and technical transport base is further strengthened. We must also improve the organization of transport and mechanize loading and unloading operations. In this way, we shall be able to carry the rapidly increasing goods traffic.
The Government of the Republic must continue with the simultaneous development of the cultural and technical revolution, The urgent task facing us today in the development of culture is to train large numbers of technical personnel to meet the demands of socialist construction, and raise the working people’s general cultural level and technical skills to a considerable extent.
We must improve the work of universities and colleges, build more universities and improve the work of night schools and correspondence courses. By doing this we must determinedly carry out the decision of our Party’s Fifth Congress on increasing the number of technicians and specialists to more than a million in the next few years.
If we are to raise the working people’s cultural level and technical skills we must achieve universal compulsory ten-year education of a high quality. In order to guarantee this fully the Government of the Republic must provide all the necessary material conditions and improve teachers’ training to produce large numbers of good teachers. In the field of education, we must apply the principles of socialist education thoroughly, so as to train all our students to be dependable builders of socialism and communism, firmly armed with our Party’s revolutionary ideology and equipped with ample knowledge, high morality and strong bodies.
In order to raise the general cultural and technical levels of the working people, we must continue to develop the part-time educational system which includes the working people’s middle school, factory higher technical school and other schools, thus enrolling all the working people in some educational establishments, so that they can study on a regular basis.
In this way, we shall ensure that all working people attain the level of a senior middle school graduate and master more than one technical skill.
The Government of the Republic must pursue the ideological revolution vigorously and so achieve the revolutionization and working-dassization of the whole of society in accordance with the Party’s consistent policy.
In revolutionizing and working-classizing the whole of society it is most important to equip the working people firmly with our Party’s monolithic idea, the Juche idea. Our Party’s Juche idea is the only correct ideological guide to the successful carrying out of the Korean revolution. It is only when the working people are firmly armed with this idea that they can have a genuine revolutionary world outlook and worthily discharge the tasks assigned to them in the revolution and construction. We must intensify the education of the working people in our Party policies and the revolutionary traditions so as to arm them firmly with our Party’s monolithic idea, the Juche idea, thereby training all of them to be true Red fighters of the Party, communist revolutionaries, who adhere to revolutionary principles under any adversity and carry through the Party’s lines and policies.
We have to intensify communist education, with class education as its main content, among the working people, while arming them with the Juche idea, so that all of them are firmly armed with working-class consciousness and collectivism, ardently cherish our socialist system and work devotedly for its consolidation and development.
Steady improvement of the material and cultural standards of the people is the supreme principle governing all activities of the Government of the Republic. As in the past, the Government of the Republic will continue to make every effort to raise the people’s material and cultural standards.
We must firmly adhere to the principle of ensuring equal improvement of all the working people’s living conditions while systematically promoting the people’s welfare. The Government of the Republic must, in particular, endeavour to eliminate differences between the living standards of the workers and the peasants, and between the living conditions of the urban and the rural population, while improving the lives of the people as a whole, in accordance with the policy set forth at the Fifth Congress of our Party.
We must strengthen the organs of power and improve their functions and role in order to implement the revolutionary tasks confronting us at present and consolidate and develop the socialist system successfully.
To strengthen the government of the workers and peasants, which isa powerful weapon of the revolution and construction, is an important guarantee for winning the complete victory of socialism and accomplishing the historic cause of the working class. We must make untiring efforts to strengthen the organs of power at all levels and improve their functions and role in the revolution and construction.
The organs of power from top to bottom must radically increase their role as defenders of the political rights and interests of the workers, peasants and other working people and as masters responsible for their lives. They must strive to champion the working people’s political rights in every way, protect their lives and property and see to it that the people all live well. The organs of power at all levels must manage commerce, town administration, education, public health services and production and construction which are directly related to the people’s life, and strengthen their leadership over them to provide better living conditions for the people. They must protect and take good care of state and communal property and fight resolutely against its misappropriation and waste.
For our Government to be a genuine government of the workers and peasants which serves the interests of the revolution and the people faithfully, we must ensure that the monolithic ideological system of the Party is thoroughly established, above all, amongst the officials of the government bodies. The government officials at all levels must arm themselves more firmly with our Party’s monolithic ideology, always base all their activities strictly on the Party’s lines and policies, and defend and carry them through to the end under whatever difficult conditions. At the same time, they must constantly improve their method and style of work. Bureaucratism is one of the major defects that may often manifest itself in the method and style of work after the seizure of power by the working class. The government officials’ bureaucratism stems from subjectivism as well as from the mistaken idea of equating their posts with old-time government offices. It alienates the Party from the masses and makes it impossible to carry out revolutionary tasks successfully. We must completely do away with the bureaucratic work method of the officials of government bodies and strictly adhere to the Chongsanri method which is our Party’s revolutionary method of work.
The Government of the Republic must continue to work hard to increase the nation’s defence capabilities.
Since we are building socialism in direct confrontation with US imperialism, the ringleader of world imperialism, we must not neglect the work of increasing the nation’s defence capabilities for even a moment. The Government of the Republic must always exercise vigilance against the war policy and hostile actions of the imperialists and augment the nation’s defence capabilities in every way in accordance with the revolutionary principle of self-defence. We must continue to implement the Party’s military line thoroughly, the main content of which is to turn the entire army into an army of cadres, modernize it, arm all the people and fortify the whole country, and make the nation’s defences impregnable so as to crush, at once, any aggressive acts of the imperialists and firmly defend the security of the country and the people and our socialist gains.
In order to consolidate and develop the socialist system and hasten the final victory of our revolution, we must strengthen our solidarity with the revolutionary forces of the world while increasing our own revolutionary forces.
The principle consistently followed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in its foreign policy is to develop friendship and cooperation with all countries which are friendly towards our country, on the principles of equality and mutual benefit. In the future, too, we shall continue to maintain this principle in our foreign policy.
The Government of the Republic will do its best to achieve the unity and cohesion of the socialist countries and promote friendship and cooperation with them on the principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.
It will work to expand and strengthen its diplomatic relations with the Asian, African and Latin-American countries which are fighting for freedom and national independence and to establish and promote friendly relations with more countries. We will also endeavour to establish diplomatic as well as political, economic and cultural relations, on the five principles of peaceful coexistence, with those capitalist countries which wish to have good relations with our country and which pursue unbiased policies which show no aggression against the north and south of the Korean peninsula.
The consistent policy followed by the Government of the Republic in its external activities is to fight against the US-led imperialists’ policy of aggression and war and for world peace and security.
The US-led imperialists are still craftily pursuing their policy of aggression and war under the ostensible slogans of “peace” and “negotiations”. Holding aloft the revolutionary banner of anti-imperialist, anti-US struggle, we shall fight on resolutely to check and frustrate the imperialists’ policy of aggression and war and defend the peace of the world. Furthermore, we shall give active support and encouragement to the fight of all peoples of the world against imperialism and work hard to strengthen solidarity with all the anti-imperialist forces.
The Government of the DPRK and the Korean people will always stand firmly on the side of the peoples who are fighting for peace and democracy, national independence and socialism.
In the recent past the Korean citizens in Japan have achieved tremendous successes in their battle to defend their democratic, national rights, facilitate the independent, peaceful reunification of the homeland and strengthen international solidarity with the Japanese people and other progressive peoples of the world.
In the future, too, they should continue to fight resolutely to develop national education and achieve the right to return home and visit their country, united closely around Chongryon (the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan), under the unfurled banner of the Juche idea. They should also make an active contribution to hastening the country’s reunification, the supreme national task of our people, upholding our Party’s policy of independent, peaceful reunification, and strengthen internationalist friendship with the Japanese people and other peoples of the world.
The Government of the DPRK regards it as its solemn duty to protect our nationals in Japan and all other Korean citizens abroad. The Government of the Republic will continue to fight staunchly against all unjustified acts of infringement on the interests and national rights of our overseas citizens, and do all it can to support and encourage their just struggle.
Comrade Deputies, Our people have achieved great victories and successes in the struggle for the socialist revolution and socialist construction under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, courageously overcoming many difficulties and harsh trials. All these brilliant victories and achievements testify to the correctness and indestructible vitality of our Party’s Juche idea and demonstrate our people’s inexhaustible might.
Our people are faced today with the important task of achieving the complete victory of socialism in the northern half of the Republic and the independent, peaceful reunification of the country by promoting the revolution and construction. In order to carry out this task, we must continue our vigorous struggle with unabated energy and devotion, and advance more quickly, overcoming all difficulties.
We must thoroughly embody the new Socialist Constitution, which we are going to adopt here, in all fields of state and social life, and press ahead more determinedly with the revolution and construction. All our citizens must observe the Socialist Constitution voluntarily and thus bring about a great change in the revolutionary struggle and work of construction.
Our revolutionary cause is a just one, and victory is definitely ours.
No force can block the way of the Korean people who are marching forward under our Party’s leadership, with state power firmly in their hands.
Let us all unite closely around the Party Central Committee and the Government of the Republic and advance valiantly towards the bright future of socialism and communism, holding high the banner of Marxism-Leninism, the revolutionary banner of the Juche idea.
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