Tuesday 19 April 2022

Speech by Dr Dermot Hudson to ICCSS Seminar on the 110th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG



The late comrade Fidel Castro  , the leader and commander of the Cuban revolution once wrote that ‘“Comrade Kim Il Sung is one of the most distinguished,outstanding and heroic socialist leaders of the present world.His history is one of the most beautiful histories of a revolutionary serving the cause of socialism’ and Chairman Mao Zedong of China at the end of his life said to comrade KIM IL SUNG  ‘About world revolution no one can lead it, except for Kim Il Sung. My sincere request to you, Comrade Kim Il Sung  is to continue and now lead the cause of world revolution and the international Communist movement. “



These words  reflect the fact that the great leader President KIM IL SUNG always paid attention to the question of the world revolution from an early age . When he founded the Down-With Imperialism Union on the 17th of October 1926  President KIM IL SUNG clearly defined as one of its tasks that it should carry out the world revolution and build socialism and communism throughout the world .  Speaking to the foundation meeting of the Down-with-Imperialism Union he pointed out that .


 "Irreconcilable contradictions exist between the imperialists and people in the colonies  and these contradictions are sharpening  with the passage of time. Because these contradictions are antagonistic they cannot be settled by any kind of 'compromise ' and will only be solved when imperialism is overthrown"


   This not only trenchantly exposed the contradictions of imperialism but showed the correct road of struggle for the people of colonial and dependent countries.


President KIM IL SUNG formed the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army in 1932 (renamed Korean People’s Revolutionary Army in 1934 ) that fought arms in hand for independence against Japanese imperialism. However , it did not fight just for the independence of Korea but it was a proletarian internationalist army which contributed to the world revolution . It fought  in defence of the Soviet Union , the first workers and peasants state  , in the battles of Lake Khasan in 1938 and Khalkhin-Gol in 1939 . It also defended the Mongolian People’s Republic. Later after liberation in August 1945  President KIM IL SUNG  sent the best fighters and cadres of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army  to help the Chinese Communist Party and People's Liberation Army(PLA) liberate China from the bureaucratic and reactionary rule of the KMT.At the same time he allowed the PLA to use People’s Korea as a rear base . It is said that one of the five stars in the flag of the People’s Republic of China represents Korean martyrs.




Whilst leading the work of building socialism in the DPRK President KIM IL SUNG paid great attention to the world revolution . The international communist movement and socialist camp experienced severe trials and difficulties owing to the emergence of modern revisionism from the late 1950s onward, comrade KIM IL SUNG opposed both modern revisionism and Left opportunism and argued for unity.




In works such as  "Let Us Intensify the anti-US, anti -imperialist struggle" , "The Great Anti-Imperialist Revolutionary Cause of the Asian , African  and Latin American peoples is invincible " and many other works, he put forward the line  of struggle against US imperialism and turning the spearhead against US imperialism .He argued strongly against the line of compromise with US imperialism which was being peddled enthusiastically  by the modern revisionists who tried to impose it on the international communist movement . He pointed out that " It is wrong to try to avoid the struggle against imperialism under the pretext that independence and revolution are important, but that peace is still more precious. Is it not true that the line of seeking unprincipled compromise with imperialism only tends to encourage its aggressive actions and increase the danger of war? Peace secured by slavish submission is not peace. Genuine peace cannot be achieved unless a struggle is waged against those who break the peace, unless the slave’s peace is rejected and the oppressors’ rule overthrown. We are opposed to the line of compromise with imperialism. At the same time, we cannot tolerate the practice of only denouncing imperialism but, in actual fact, being afraid to fight it. This is a line of compromise in an inverted form. Both have nothing to do with a genuine anti-imperialist struggle and only help the imperialist policy of aggression and war "


Furthermore he put forward an excellent strategy for world revolution  saying that "


"We small nations must unite and counter US imperialism’s strategy of swallowing us up one by one, by each one of us chopping off its head and limbs. This is the strategy small countries must employ to defeat US imperialism."




the 1960s and 1970s President KIM IL SUNG ensured that the DPRK punched well above its weight , giving support to many liberation movements and newly independent states ..Because of the threat of war was imminent many foreign embassies withdrew from Cuba but comrade KIM IL SUNG instructed the Embassy staff and their families to arm themselves and fight to the end. The DPRK actually sent a KPA General to  Cuba as its ambassador. DPRK students studying in Cuba also armed themselves ready to fight.The DPRK gave political and military assistance, while sending food and tractors as well as a group of authoritative technicians.. The DPRK also publicly supported the 5 -point demands of Premier Fidel Castro which included the US withdrawal from Guantanamo. The DPRK press denounced Khrushchev for his capitulationism and cowardice.

  Later in 1986 the DPRK supplied Cuba with 100,000 automatic rifles at cost price , this was at a time when the Soviet revisionists in the grip of Gorbachov's perestroika were in the process of ending their military assistance to Cuba. President KIM IL SUNG called for international volunteers to be sent to Vietnam and sent the best pilots of the air force of the Korean People's Army to Vietnam as well as tunnelling experts plus material assistance as well. During the 1973 October War between the United Arab Republic and the Israeli Zionists , a squadron of KPA pilots was sent to assist the Arab people in their fight against Zionist aggression.President KIM IL SUNG also supported the Grenadian revolution . He had DPRK construction experts sent to Grenada and the DPRK gave a generous amount of military aid to the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada , in fact in per capita terms  the DPRK gave more aid  to Grenada than the USSR did.


                                            




   President KIM IL SUNG was a great friend of the third world who sent agricultural technicians and engineers to many third world countries such as Madagascar , Tanzania , Togo, Central Africa, Benin ,Guinea, Egypt , Rwanda , Burkina Faso, Ghana and the Seychelles . Agricultural institutes bearing the name of KIM IL SUNG were established in Guinea and Tanzania . This was genuine aid as opposed to the fake aid of the imperialists which aims only to corrupt and enslave newly independent countries.

 President KIM IL SUNG put forward the slogan ‘ Peoples of the world advocating independence , unite  !’ and in many talks with personalities and activists throughout the world  , he argued for the line of global independence , of making the whole world independent .


  When socialism was frustrated in the former USSR and other European socialist countries owing to modern revisionism , President KIM IL SUNG held high the red banner of socialism , he made sure that People’s Korea continued along the socialist road and rallied the world revolutionary forces to defend and advance socialism by the adoption of the Pyongyang Declaration .


The whole life of President KIM IL SUNG is associated with anti-imperialism and fighting for global independence .






 









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