Monday, 17 May 2021

Speech of Dr Dermot Hudson to the Online Seminar on 10th Congress of the Youth League and the struggle against capitalist ideology held on 15.05.2021 .

The 10th Congress of the Kimilsungist -Kimjongilist Youth League was held in Pyongyang the capital of People’s Korea from the  27th of April to the 29th of April  amidst great excitement and high expectations.The congress was attended by young people from all walks of life in the DPRK such as young workers , army youth and university students.


The congress of the youth league in the DPRK is of very great importance because basically youth are the successors to the revolution . In People's Korea young people have always been viewed as the vanguard and shock brigade of socialist construction . Young people  in the DPRK are a source of pride for the country . They took part in difficult labour consuming work and volunteer for key projects .Many monumental structures  such as the Paektusan Youth Hero Power station were built by young people and bear the name of youth .Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN  defined young people as one of the three main forces of socialist construction and a source of pride for the Workers' Party of Korea. It was Marshal KIM JONG UN who put forward the concept of the DPRK being a youth power. In his 2015 work “ The Cause of the Great Party of Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il Is Ever-Victorious" he wrote that 

In particular, the young people of a new generation have grown up into a dependable reserve force of the WPK and successors to the revolution, and they are performing the role of a shock brigade with credit in carrying out the cause of the Juche revolution. Thus our country is widely recognized as a youthful power without parallel in the world. Recorded in the history of the WPK is the proud achievement it has made in training young people into heroes of the times and its advance group and wing.’


The youth league has a proud and honourable history as the youth organisation of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.




 At the Congress the Youth League was renamed the Socialist Patriotic Youth League of Korea (SPYLK ) to reflect the nature and tasks of the youth movement of the era. Originally the youth league had been founded as the Democratic Youth League of  Korea in 1946 . In 1964 the name was changed to the League of Socialist Working Youth of Korea and then to the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League in 1996 . At the 9th Congress of the Youth League in August 2016 it was renamed the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League . 

  After the holding of the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea in January earlier this year , it was decided to convene congresses of mass organisations in the DPRK such as the youth league , the women's union , trade unions etc . The 8th Congress of the WPK had identified the need to reenergise mass organisations.


  The Congress vowed to carry out the vital tasks that were laid down at the historic 8th Congress of the great Workers' Party of Korea(WPK) and the 2nd plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the WPK .  In particular 2 key tasks are to carry out the new 5 year plan and struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices.


The Congress also elected a new leadership and revised the rules of the youth league. Mun Chol was elected chairman of the Central Committee of the youth league and Ri Ju Chol, Pak Myong Jin, Pae Chung Il, Paek Hak Ryong, Kang Yong Jin, Jang Ryong Gil, Kim Song Il, Kim Kyong Jun and Ham Kwang Chol vice-chairmen.



  After the congress a short course was held . There was an art performance and a torchlight parade . Meetings at which young people pledged to carry out the tasks set down by the congress .


  Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN , the general secretary of the Workers Party of Korea , sent a letter to the youth league congress titled ' "Demonstrate to the Full the Might of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League on the Historic March towards a Fresh Victory in the Revolution" .The letter laid down tasks and priorities for the Socialist Patriotic Youth League .His letter explained that “ The new name of the youth league directly and clearly reflects the nature and tasks of the youth movement at the present stage of our revolution, indicates in an intensive way the ideals and traits of the young people in our era, and sustains the characteristics unique to it as an organization of young people.’ Moreover he stressed that “ The change of the name of the youth league does not mean the change of the intrinsic nature of our young people's organization that regards modelling itself on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism as its ultimate goal, as its ultimate fighting task.”.

The letter defined the struggle against anti-socialism and non socialism as a central task for the youth league  pointing out that 

 

' At present the dangerous poison that blemishes the original features of socialism is the anti-socialist and non-socialist practices.


Now a large-scale clean-up operation to wipe out these practices is underway on a nationwide scale. It is another class struggle, a patriotic struggle, to defend the purity and future of our young people and to provide them with a more wonderful home of socialiAsm'


These words inspire faith and confidence in People's Korea . It is very correct that the DPRK sees it as a class struggle . The DPRK has consistently maintained that class struggle continues under socialism.

It is good that the DPRK has made the struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices a key priority and is mobilising its young people in the struggle against anti-socialism . 


 In the past some socialist countries failed to take measures against imperialist and bourgeois ideological and cultural infiltration. Moreover they failed to struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices and were overwhelmed by them only to collapse . It has also been said that a certain country ‘opened its door but forgot to put up the mosquito net ‘. 


The infiltration of capitalist ideology and culture into socialist countries was  always part of the imperialist strategy of the so-called peaceful transition , a strategy to quietly and gradually overthrow socialism in the socialist countries . The following words were attributed to the US CIA director Allen Dulles “ "We shall arm comedians with jokes that laugh out their present and future. Poison the soul of the youth with disbelief in their purpose in life, awaken their interest in sexual problems, bait them with such lures of the free world as fancy dances, pretty clothing, special records, verses, songs... Sow discord between the youth and the older generation

 We can see evidence of this both in the past and at present .

 I can remember visiting  Hungary in the 1980s when it was still a socialist country albeit under revisionist leadership  . Here the ideological and cultural penetration of imperialism was deep . Posters of ‘Rambo’ and ‘Madonna ‘ were on sale in market stalls . There was a McDonalds in the centre of Budapest. Doctors and dentists made a lot of money through secretly running private practices . To a greater or lesser extent most of the East European socialist countries were heavily penetrated by Western culture and ideology . Worse still the youth of these countries were the most affected  . 

This is why the DPRK is so correct to place the struggle against anti-socialism and non-socialism on the agenda of the youth league . The DPRK is now going to unfold an exciting and powerful campaign against anti-socialist and non-socialist ideas . This in turn will generate a great upsurge in socialist construction and make a decisive contribution to the fulfillment of the new 5 year plan.



  We are sure that the 10th Congress of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League will herald the start of a great movement in People's Korea to smash and finally wipe out anti-socialist and non socialist practices as well as all capitalist , revisionist and imperialist ideas . We also believe the Congress will inspire the DPRK young people to turn out in the struggle to fulfill the 5th year plan set out at the 8th Congress of the WPK thereby demonstrating the revolutionary stamina of the DPRK . We are sure that Korean youth will play their part in building a thriving socialist nation.


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