This work which is 23 years old was one of the last major policy speeches made by the great leader President Kim Il Sung . He was 76 years old when this speech and he was very much the veteran and the elder statesman of the international communist movement at the time. He had led 4 decades of socialist construction , which included two stages of social revolution . This work was written and delivered to mark the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK in 1988. Now some at the time who perhaps did not fully understand the Juche idea or the experience may have quibbled a bit about the importance of this speech as a number of socialist countries at the time had celebrated or were celebrating their 40th anniversary the. It actually took the passing of years and tragic events that unfolded in the socialist camp to fully amplify and demonstrate the importance of this work for all to see and prove its validity as the most of the other socialist countries celebrating their 40th anniversaries did not last another year (save for Albania and Yugoslavia which carried on until the early 1990s).
Thus the speech was delivered at time when the international situation was very complicated due to the moves of the imperialists and renegades from socialism to destroy socialism from within using the “peaceful transition “ strategy(worked out by Allen Dulles of the CIA years ago). In the speech comrade Kim Il Sung alludes to the “vortex of history “ which I think sums up the times. At the time the DPRK was under massive pressure to adopt the lines of perestroika . Though we were unaware of it behind the scenes there were sharp clashes between DPRK and Soviet diplomatic representatives.
President Kim Il Sung had warned WPK officials several times in 1987 about the dangers of modern revisionism .
However internally the situation was very good . The DPRK had completed the 2nd 7 year plan at the end of 1984 . Industrial output had grown 2.2 times and grain ouput had soared to 10 millions tons. Afterwards there was a 2 year adjustment period and a the third seven year plan started in 1987. This was elaborated on in another major policy speech made to the Supreme Peoples Assembly known as “ For the Complete Victory of Socialism “. I think it can be said that this work we are studying now is follows on logically from the work “For Complete Victory of Socialism “ which presented tasks for the complete victory of socialism whereas this work boldly proclaims the accomplishment of the socialist and communist cause under the banner of Juche . The DPRK’s stance in not only maintaining socialism but aiming for the complete victory of socialism at a time was socialism was being abandoned elsewhere was not only heroic but showed the level of confidence that resulted from the establishment of Juche .
Indeed this work serves as a good introduction to how Juche was applied in practice.
Given the time it was made it was a strong reaffirmation of Juche socialism and an explanation of the DPRK’s experience in state building and the question of the solution of power the key question in the revolution and construction. This work also refutes the anti socialist offensive carried out under the guise of perestroika.
The work is divided into four parts. The first part being a summing up of the DPRK’s experience in socialist construction since its foundation , the second part is a brilliant exposition of the lines for socialist construction based on the Juche idea, it basically explains what Juche means in practical and concrete terms, the third part deals with the reunification issue and the fourth part addresses the question of reunification which of course is a key question.
In the first part comrade Kim Il Sung adroitly puts the DPRK ’s foundation within historical context as well explaining the vitality of the DPRK’s socialist system and the validity of the Juche-orientated lines and policies . Also this part b basically explains why the anniversary of the foundation of the Republic is so important. This is put in a succinct way
“Establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a great achievement gained by our revolution through a long-drawn-out, arduous struggle for independence. It is the genuine political power of the people, which is meeting the masses’ desire for independence and realizing with credit their ideals by implementing the Juche idea.
Our Republic has grown from the deep historical roots of the glorious anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle”
This sums up the very nature and essence of the DPRK and its historical roots in the anti-Japanese struggle. These revolutionary traditions enabled the Korean revolutionaries
to establish the DPRK despite the opposition of the US imperialist who had occupied the south of Korea and rigged up a puppet regime there. As comrade Kim Il Sung says
“The glorious revolutionary traditions of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and the brilliant success achieved by our people in their creative struggle for democratic construction after liberation became the unshakable foundations for establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”
The DPRK travelled an ardoros road , it was as a thorny path fraught with obstacles and difficulties but as the following passage shows the results were quite substantial
"Under the correct leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Republic, our people have thwarted, at every step, the aggression and ceaseless provocative moves of US imperialism, the ringleader of world imperialism, and safeguarded the dignity of the Republic with honour. In the difficult circumstances of a divided and age-long backward country they promoted the socialist revolution and the building of socialism by displaying fortitude and the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. After their victory in the Fatherland Liberation War our people established an advanced socialist system by completing transformation of production relations in urban and rural communities along socialist lines within a short space of time, carried out the historic task of industrialization and built an excellent independent socialist national economy. The magnificent, creative and constructive struggle for socialism has trained them to be unconquerable, fully equipped with the Juche idea and united closely under one ideology and purpose, and our country has become a powerful socialist state that is independent, self-sufficient and capable of self-reliant national defence.
Our people are now enjoying fully independent and creative lives in the embrace of the Republic, as masters of the state and society."
I think the above quote is an excellent historical summary of the DPRK and also in a succinct way explains the DPRK’s mission and nature.
This passage makes clear that the leading role of the Partry and government are essential. The revolutionary spirit Self-reliance was the weapon to overcome the age old backwardness. The source of the DPRK’s great victories in socialist construction was that the people were united with one ideology . Taking pause to reflect on this I pointed out to some people that the recent riots in the UK could not happen in the DPRK because of people being united with one ideology.
President Kim Il Sung elucidates on the superior nature of the socialist system in
the DPRK
"Our people are now enjoying fully independent and creative lives in the embrace of the Republic, as masters of the state and society.
In our country all the people exercise their full rights to independence through their active participation in the political life of the state. They are adding lustre to their worthwhile lives through their creative struggle to achieve the high aim set by the Party, helping and leading each other forward, closely united on the basis of revolutionary constancy and comradeship. All the material and cultural needs, such as food, clothing, and housing, are met by the state, which also provides them with secure jobs according to their abilities. They are leading equally happy lives, receiving the benefits of free education, free medical care and so on from the state and society."
The above passage I think sums up the advantages of socialism in the DPRK . It is not just a question of material security, though of course , this is very important in itself , but they the people of the DPRK live in a united society and there is comradeship. Moreover they are the masters of society.
A very important and fundamental question is elaborated on in this work , the question of continuous revolution. Comrade Kim Il Sung not only puts this both within the historical context of building socialism in the DPRK but also the question of continuous revolution in the present and the future . I am going to quote a lengthy passage from the work here as I think it is necessary to have the whole passage in order to understand the question
"We thoroughly carried out the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution on the principles of meeting the masses’ desire for democracy and of creating the conditions for transition to the socialist revolution. Following the democratic revolution, we embarked on the socialist revolution without delay.
The production relations in our country were successfully transformed along socialist lines despite the weak material and technical foundations of agriculture and a national economy devastated by war. Our experience shows that when the motive force of the revolution is strong, it is fully possible to effect revolutionary change along socialist lines in production relations even though the material and technical foundations are weak, and that the very work of building up these foundations can be expedited by relying on the superiority of the socialist system that has been established.
How to blaze a trail towards communism after the triumph of the socialist revolution and the establishment of the socialist system was a serious problem that was to decide the outcome of our efforts to build socialism and communism.
The victory of the socialist revolution and the establishment of the socialist system represent a historic change in the masses’ struggle to achieve independence, but the revolution does not end there. Socialist society is a transitional society in which hangovers from the old society exist in many spheres of social life. If we are to overcome the transitional character of socialist society and advance to the higher plane of communism, we must continue the revolution in the ideological, technical and cultural spheres. The ideological, technical and cultural revolutions are difficult and complicated undertakings to do away with the remnants of the old society and take the ideological and material fortresses of communism; these are a revolutionary struggle to liquidate capitalism once and for all and provide the masses with full independence."
As is explained the starting point of the revolutionary process in Korea was the revolution to eliminate feudalism, which had prevailed for centuries, and imperialism. This went straight over to the socialist revolution. Some ultra leftists have asserted that the revolution in third world countries must jump over the anti-imperialist , anti feudal stage . On the other hand some other places were slow to progress to the socialist revolution after completing the anti-imperialist, anti feudal revolution and some other countries saw the whole process of long drawn reforms. The Juche concept of uninterrupted , continuous revolution avoided deviations in socialist
construction.
Juche also stipulated that even after the socialist revolution itself was completed as the great
leader comrade Kim Il Sung explains
"Since the establishment of the socialist system our Party and the Government of the Republic have pressed on with the ideological, technical and cultural revolutions and have thus been able to make continuous advance in building socialism and to conduct a successful struggle to capture the two fortresses of communism simultaneously"
I think I do not need to elaborate too much on the above passage as a lot of it is self explanatory and contains importants truths. Socialist society is indeed something that emerges from exploiter society and can sometimes traces of the old society . The key question is how to deal with them. The DPRK has answered this by contuining the revolution . This is what makes the DPRK different from other socialist countries and is one of the main reasons for the durability of Korean style -socialism. The DPRK is not simply just another socialist country or another “hard line socialist country” but has distinctive and revolutionary policies , which are the best ones for building socialism.
Jumping over to the second part of the work but logically progressing from the theme of continuous revolution the whole question of advancing towards the future of socialism and communism in piratical terms is discussed . The question of material and moral incentives is explored as one would expect as this is a key question in socialist construction and also at the time some socialist countries were demanding greater material incentives. The DPRK opposed one sided stress on material incentives from a logical standpoint
“People have political integrity as well as a physical life, so they have political and moral requirements as well as material needs. How these two factors are stimulated affects the degree of enthusiasm and creativity displayed by the working people in socialist construction. Since political integrity is more valuable for a social man than physical life, it is reasonable to put the main stress in the management of a socialist economy on political and moral incentives and combine them properly with material incentives.”
The above passage shows how the Juche idea is practically applied . Although the ultra leftist error of entirely disregarding material incentives at the time they are not made the primary incentive, political and moral incentives come first. This ties in with the concept of putting the ideological revolution ahead of other revolutions. Visiting the DPRK in 2008 and travelling through farming areas why could see loudspeaker vans in the fields and Red flags in the fields.
Experience has proved that undue emphasis on material incentives destroys socialism in the end . Trying to move people by money is a capitalist approach and in capitalist society people work only for money.
I think this is a good point on which to conclude my brief survey of the work Every word in this work is a word of genius and wisdom . Please read this if you have not already done already. I will also personally recommend that you read some of the other works of President Kim Il Sung written around the same time as well the condensed biography . The work“LET US ACCOMPLISH THE CAUSE OF SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM UNDER THE REVOLUTIONARY BANNER OF JUCHE” is a highly valuable work that deserves to be studied today as it gives answers to questions arising in the building of socialism and time has
proved its validity.
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