Introduction
It was in a book entitled For the Complete Victory of the Socialist Cause (Kim Jong Il , 1999) that I first encountered the essay, ‘Respecting the Forerunners of the Revolution is a Noble Moral Obligation of Revolutionaries’, and it is to that edition that my page numbers refer. It is a collection of Kim Jong Il’s vital writings of the 1990s and its title is an apt one. The period of its writing was one of extreme challenges for the socialist cause, marked by retreat and encirclement. Following the collapse of the revisionist regimes, the 90’s witnessed the forces of global reaction in the ascendency as neoliberalism swept the world from China to Europe. Only Cuba and the DPRK maintained any meaningful adherence to the socialist cause, and it fell to the DPRK alone to carry the torch of Marxism-Leninism unwaveringly into the new millennium.
It was thirty years ago, on December 25th 1995 that Rodung Sinmum first published ‘Respecting the Forerunners of the Revolution’. It articulated an argument that followed seamlessly on the heels of those other great works, such as ‘Abuses of Socialism are Intolerable’ and of course ‘Socialism is a Science’ the previous year. At the heart of each, the effort to hold the line and maintain the sanctity of the socialist cause in the face of the ‘final victory of capitalism’ and the ‘end of history’ that were so confidently and so wrongly trumpeted by the proponents of the new world order.
I will begin with a summary, followed by a brief analysis to spur further discussion among discussants of the British Group for the Study of the Juche idea.
Summary
In this work, comrade Kim Jong Il emphasizes the critical importance of respecting and preserving revolutionary traditions as a cornerstone for sustaining the advances delivered by the revolution during the period of the arduous march towards communism. He argues that the Korean revolution, guided by the Juche idea, has endured and triumphed for over seventy years because successive generations have upheld the ideals, achievements, and moral principles of their forebears.
The essay emphasises, firstly, that the success of socialism depends on unwavering loyalty to revolutionary predecessors and their accomplishments. Betrayal or neglect of these traditions leads to ideological collapse and the resurgence of capitalism, as evidenced by historical failures in other socialist states. Secondly, Comrade Kim Jong Il underscores that morality — particularly communist morality based on collectivism, comradely love, and revolutionary loyalty —is essential for revolutionaries. He contrasts this with bourgeois morality, which fosters individualism and corruption. Thirdly, loyalty to the leader is explained to be the highest expression of revolutionary obligation. The leader provides ideological guidance, organizes the masses, and ensures victory. KIM IL SUNGshould be venerated as the embodiment of these principles. Fourthly, Kim Jong Il urges educating younger generations in revolutionary traditions and communist morality to secure the future of socialism. Schools, families, and youth organizations must collaborate to instil loyalty, collectivism, and ideological steadfastness. Fifthly, while rooted in national independence, the Korean revolution aligns with global socialist movements. Even in this period of global reaction, the essay affirms respect for the great international revolutionary figureheads, Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, and advocates solidarity with anti-imperialist struggles worldwide. And finally, Comrade Kim Jong Il warns against imperialist cultural infiltration and opportunistic distortions of socialist principles, urging vigilance and adherence to Juche-based ideology to maintain moral and ideological purity.
Analysis
I suggest that this invaluable essay should be read as the apotheosis of antirevisionism. Contrary to all the muddleheaded critics who accuse the DPRK of leading astray its adherents, of abandoning communism, its very essence, its central tenet is to maintain unflinching loyalty to the cause of Marxism-Leninism. This is an essay about continuity, the unbroken passage from capitalist oppression to socialist equality, peace and common prosperity.
As Torkil Lausen has written in his excellent book of the same title (Lauesen, 2024), the transition towards socialism and the end of capitalism in long. Indeed it has proved very long. And at every step, revolutionaries have given their lives to the cause. Comrade Kim Jong Il makes the point again and again that those lives were not lost, nor given in vain. ‘Our revolutionary forefathers’ gave them in that long, long struggle, ‘for the people and the happiness of the coming generations, not for the sake of personal interest or honour: our revolutionary forefathers shouted “love the future!” in do-or-die battles, or at the last moment of their lives on the gallows, precisely because they loved the coming generations.” (Kim, 1999, p. 243) The anti-revisionist cause of Kimilsingism-Kimjongilism is precisely the steadfast honor of that continuity of struggle through generation after generation towards the communist horizon.
Marx and Engels could not have known how long and arduous that struggle would be. Lenin, at the end of his life, the Lenin of ‘Notes of a Publicist’ (Lenin, 1965) in 1922, surely did, as did comrade Stalin, and after him comrade Kim Il Sung. By 1995, the scale of task, the seemingly neverending endurance of the march were more than obvious.
The unbending road towards socialist society has seen many off-ramps along the way, many temptations, that Kim Jong Il highlights. Each represents a new revisionist exit: ‘Because of modern revisionists, socialism began to go off the track and crumble from within.’ (Kim Jong Il , 1999, 244) At each milestone, there is a new revisionism, causing socialism to degenerate and collapse. Each of these diversions depends upon a re-visioning of the leaders, re-presenting them so as to ‘disgrace’ and ‘obliterate’ their exploits. Loyalty to the cause of socialism means upholding the memory of each generation of revolutionary leadership on the (long, long) way towards the final victory of socialism.
Marx and Engels, Lenin, Stalin and KIM IL SUNG each represent a giant signpost along that road towards socialism. Each, says comrade Kim Jong Il, are respected by the people and the Party (Kim Jong Il , 1999, p. 251). The spirit of ‘Respecting the Forerunners’ is alive and well in the DPRK today where the images of each of the forerunners of the revolution, Marx, Lenin and Stalin, still hang proudly in the most venerated sanctums of the revolution.
Yet the true antirevisionist road requires constant course-correction, constant creative adaptation to changing conditions and hazards: “While adhering to the revolutionary principles of Marxism-Leninism, our Party has established its own guiding ideology and theory on the basis of a correct analysis of the historical limitations of their doctrines, and used them as a weapon in advancing the socialist cause.” (Kim Jong Il , 1999, p. 252) Juche is the spearhead of the revolution honed and sharpened in the DPRK. It points the way along the road to socialism however long it may prove to be.
I strongly recommend all those wishing to better understand the distinctiveness of Korean socialism to read ‘Respecting the Forerunners of the Revolution is a Noble Moral Obligation of Revolutionaries’, to better understand the ways in which Marxism-Leninism can be adapted creatively to the necessities of the revolution, whilst maintaining the continuity of ideological clarity and steely-eyed antirevisionism.
Kim Jong Il. (1999) ‘, ‘Respecting the Forerunners of the Revolution is a Noble Moral Obligation of Revolutionaries’, In For the Victory of the Socialist Cause, Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House, pp. 239-261
Lauesen, T. (2024) The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism, Madison, WI: Iskra Books
Lenin, V.I. (1965) ‘Notes of a Publicist’ in Collected Works, 2nd English Edition. Moscow: Progress Publishers, pp. 204-211
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