NATIONAL AND SOCIAL LIBERATION IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION PEOPLES KOREA, AN EXAMPLE OF INDEPENDENCE AND SELF RELIANCE

NATIONAL AND SOCIAL LIBERATION IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION

PEOPLES KOREA, AN EXAMPLE OF INDEPENDENCE AND SELF RELIANCE

The late 1970s marked a change in the global balance of forces. Imperialism and the agencies of dominationism  were launching their counter revolutionary offensives against the gains of socialism and independence. Within the International Communist Movement, the model of "Market Socialism" was becoming the prevalent one.  On December 25th, 1978, KIM JONG IL gave a speech to the Consultative Meeting of the Senior Officials of the Propaganda And Agitation Department of the Workers Party of Korea. The speech was entitled "LET US INCREASE THE PARTY'S FIGHTING EFFICIENCY AND BRING ABOUT A FRESH TURN IN THE BUILDING OF SOCIALISM". At the this consultative session of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea, KIM JONG IL proclaimed the historic and strategic slogan "LET US LIVE OUR OWN WAY!" The December 1978 speech of KIM JONG IL can be divided into three parts; preserving the Juche nature of the Revolution, ideological questions and matters of practical party work.

In the late 1970s, the world was still divided up into blocs and alliances. For instance, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the European Economic Community ( the European Union) and the Council For Mutual Economic  Assistance, and in Asia we had ASEAN, the Baghdad Pact and SATO. In response to the formation of blocs by the great powers, the developing countries formed the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. The Soviet Leadership during the late 1970s came up with the concept of "limited sovereignty" in the Warsaw Treaty Countries. While others in the International Communist Movement were promoting the ideas of a geo-political  theory. Some ruling communist parties in the socialist countries were taking a right opportunist course, some other governing communist parties were taking up ultra-leftism and dogmatism. To quote from the speech " Let us live our own way!, this now is our Party's strategic slogan. Living in our own way means that we think and act with our own spirit as required by the Juche Idea and find solutions to all problems by our own efforts and in the interests of our revolution and our people. In the future, too, we must live up to principles no matter what may do".

A few months before this speech was given by KIM JONG IL, KIM IL SUNG in his address to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, on September 9th, 1978 "LET US STEP UP SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION UNDER THE BANNER OF THE JUCHE IDEA", emphasized the importance of Chajusong in the development of Korean style socialism. KIM IL SUNG during his 30th anniversary address, made an indepth analysis of the role of domination ism on the international stage. Domination ism is a trend that runs against the revolutionary moves towards independence. The essence of domination-ism is to override the independence of other countries and oppress and control them. 

The biggest threat faced by the DPRK has been from the United States. Korea remains divided into two, and there are stationed 1,000 US nuclear weapons and 40,000 US troops in south Korea. KIM JONG IL safeguarded the chajusong of Socialist Korea with the development of the Songun Revolutionary Leadership, beginning in August 1960. The DPRK has been in a 68 year confrontation with US Imperialism. KIM JONG IL  ensured that only the self-reliant powerful military forces would preserve and consolidate socialism in the DPRK.

The DPRK in the 1950s and the 1960s was advised on many occasions to join the Council For Mutual Economic Assistance, as this move would allegedly solve Democratic Korea's developmental needs. Soviet authtories made the argument to the DPRK Government, that all the energy needs of the country would be met with a constant supply from the Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station on Lake Balkial and from other Siberian power stations. President KIM IL SUNG rejected the offer of CMEA membership and the deal to supply Soviet energy to Peoples Korea. KIM IL SUNG maintained that it was better to build up an independent socialist economic base and to rely upon the domestic energy sources, than to be beholdant to others, however well meaning. The decision of the DPRK to construct an independent economy was proven to be wise, in light of the collapse of the CMEA countries. Those Asian and Caribbean members of the CMEA, were left high and dry, after the fall of the socialist countries in Europe.

After the counter-revolutions in the USSR and Eastern Europe of 1989-91, the surviving socialist nations introduced a market mechanism into their economies and economic and cultural opening. Reform and opening has become the current tendency in the majority of socialist countries. What may suit one nation's revolution and construction, will not carry favor with another country's revolutionary process. The DPRK has evolved its socialism and independence upon the bedrock of of self reliance in the ideological, cultural, military and economic spheres. The wind may blow east or west, but the DPRK will remain red and revolutionary. KIM JONG IL put forward the case for socialist self reliance with the following quotation:

It is only when one displays a great revolutionary spirit of self-reliance that one can have faith in one's own strength, exploit the internal resources of one's country to the maximum and conduct the revolution and construction with success. Experience shows that only when one gives full play to the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance can one surmount every manner of difficulty and ordeal.

Even though the anti-Japanese guerrillas received no assistance from a regular army or from a state in the past, they, by displaying to a high degree the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance, overcame manifold difficulties and hardships, defeated the brandish Japanese imperialists and accomplished the noble cause of national liberation. In the period after the Korean War our party members and working people rehabilitated the devastated economy by our efforts and transformed our country into a powerful socialist industrial state in a short span of time.

The situation we are in today demands that we display to a high degree the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. At present no country is willing to help another nor is any country in a position to help another, even should she want to".

The first two decades of the 21st century have been one where the system of blocs and alliances has been replaced with mono-polarism or bi-polarism. Mono-polarism of the United States with rivalries from the European Union and Japan have become the order of the day in the imperialist system. China, Russia, Brazil and India are challenging the hegemony  of the United States with the B.R.I.C. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation ( consisting of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) is another example of where nations are creating alternatives to US domination. Resistance on a street level to imperialism has increased in the form of the anti-globalization movements. Since the late 1990s, millions of people across the world have begun to question the rule of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism on the global arena. There has been a rise in the degree of interest in socialist ideas, and the communist parties and social movements have started to increase their influence on public affairs. The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America have been in the vanguard of the anti-imperialist struggle.

Wealth and power have internationally been concentrated within the few hands of the G8 countries ( the USA and Canada, the E.U. and Japan). The United Nations reported that one per cent of adults in the world own forty per cent of the planet's wealth and half world's population barely owned one per cent of global wealth. In over 100 countries the per capita income is lower than fifteen years ago. About 800 million people are undernourished in the developing world. Material resources are leaving the developing nations for less and less per capital value for the West.

Within Britain, the poorest tenth of the population have seen a fall in their real incomes, while the richest tenth have got a bigger proportional rise in their incomes, in other words living standards and working conditions have deteriorated since 2010. Wealth and power for the bourgeoisie have swelled and for the working class, material conditions have declined. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government aims to create a society of the working poor and welfare for the ruling elite.

Cosmopolitanism is the ideology of the imperialist bourgeoisie.  The theory of cosmopolitanism regards the principle of sovereignty  and the traditions of national cultures as obsolescent concepts, that the market forces should have supremacy globally ie unfettered international control by the monopolies. Really cosmopolitanism is the ideological foundation of globalization. The track record of imperialism has been one of the wanton destruction of national independence, military, economic and cultural means. Thus the fight for the sovereignty and independence and cultural identity against the trans-national corporations' tyranny is a struggle for the development of chajusong and social progress.

Recently the top executive of south Korea came over to the UK for so-called "state visit". I know that the UK Korean Friendship Association, Trade Unionists and Anti-Imperialists protested the presence of Pak Gye Hye on British soil. Pak Gye Hye's trip to London and other European capital cities, was to beg from Western Europe for financial assistance, as as to prop up the failing regime in Seoul. Actually the economic structure of south Korea is a case study of dependence upon the USA, Japan and the European Union. South Korea's external debt is $370 billion (or $7,400 per head of population) and its internal debt is $319 billion. The United States concluded a Free Trade Agreement with south Korea, which give the American capitalists unlimited access to this Asian market. Famous south Korean brand names such as "Samsung", are about 82% foreign owned. US companies such Ford, IBM, Coca-Cola, McDonald s, Japanese firms like Mitsubishi and Sony and even British concerns such as Barclay s Bank, ICI, BP and Tesco have a foothold in every city and village of south Korea

South Korea depends on the import of energy, which is within the region of 96.5 per cent. For import of minerals, it is 95 per cent. South Korea's rate of self sufficiency in grain is 27 per cent. The rate of self sufficiency in wheat, maize and bean is 05, 1.8 and 8.4 per cent. Foreign capital holds 40 per cent of south Korean stock market assets. Apparently, the parent company of Johnny Walker Whiskey, Diageo is a major investor in the south Korean drinks industry.

 As a consequence of the total opening of the south Korean economy, and bankruptcy of the south Korean economic structure, there has been a drastic decrease in the standard of living. In south Korea, there are about 5.7 million people surviving below the poverty line, 10 per cent of the population own 53 per cent of the wealth and property, while the majority have a 1 per cent ownership. The gap between the earnings of the extremely rich and poor has increased 14.5 times, with 1 per cent having a private income of 16 per cent. In south Korea there are eight million unemployed people. Most south Korean educational and health services are privately owned controlled. 

 ndependence,sovereignty and most of all, self-reliance are the lifeblood of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Indeed, the Juche Idea has its guiding principles, that the independent stand must be maintained. In practice, this means to have Juche in ideology, independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy and self-reliance in defence. Social wealth and social relations, the means of production, exchange and distribution are firmly in the hands of the working people of the DPRK. The IMF, the World Bank and the Trans-National Corporations do not run the economy of the DPRK, MacDonald s, Coca-Cola, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox do not control the culture of the DPRK and NATO does not dictate the military affairs of the DPRK. Only the Korean People with their Leader and Party, is the sovereign body in the DPRK.

Self-reliance is a revolutionary stand of carrying out the revolution and construction of one's own country on the strength of its people's labour and its resources. The DPRK has been able to build over the decades since the Korean War, an economy based on independent development. Economically, the DPRK's structure has become orientated and balanced towards fulfilling its own domestic needs and relying upon the country's raw materials and creating its own specialists and technicians. After the devastation of the Korean War (1950-53), the DPRK was able to fully industrialize within 14 years. As a result of self reliance, the DPRK has build up its industrial and agricultural base. The Sunchon Vinalon Complex with annual production of 100,000 tons and 13,000 machine tools were turned out, the West Sea Barrage, the Kim Chaek Iron Complex with a rated 190,000 tons production have been the product of adherence to self-reliance by the DPRK.

  Yes, the DPRK has a foreign trade policy. Peoples Korea also has the Rason Special Economic Zone in the far north east of the DPRK and the Kaesong Industrial Region, which is between the north and south of Korea; six miles north of the DMZ.The Kaesong Zone has about 123 firms from the north and the south of Korea and employs approximately 53,000 workers. In 1993, the Rason Economic Zone was established and 51 foreign businesses have invested $37 million into the zone. The DPRK Government passed legislation for the creation of joint ventures between DPRK economic bodies and companies from other countries in 1986. The fundamental difference between joint ventures and free economic zones in the DPRK and economic concessions in other countries, is that the Korean Socialist State has complete sovereign control over them. When the US and south Korea were stirring up provocations against the DPRK in the spring of 2013, the DPRK Government temporarily closed the Kasong Zone, acting totally in its interest.

Socialist Korea has had a great deal of sanctions placed upon it by the imperialist manipulated international community.Latest being UN Security Council Resolution 2094, passed on March 24th, 2013. The DPRK's economic structure has the weathered the storm of sanctions due to the independent and self-reliant nature of the socialist economy. In fact, the DPRK carries on trade with many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The DPRK exports such items as electronics, machine tools, nonferrous metals, rolled steel, cargo ships, magnesia, cement, coal, amongst others. DPRK sculptors designed and built national monuments in several nations, including Senegal, Angola and Namibia, recently.

Social wealth and social relations are in the control of the working masses in the DPRK. Forms of ownership of the means of production in Peoples Korea are either state or cooperative in nature. The DPRK is a society which guarantees free health care, universal education (including university level), free housing, cheap and efficient public transport. Everybody in Socialist Korea has the right to work, that is full employment in the DPRK. Factory and office workers in the DPRK do not pay more than 3 per cent of their living cost on fuel, water and electricity. Overall, the state spent 1.5 billion Won last year on providing workers, peasants and intellectuals with free food and fuel

The DPRK is a society based upon collectivism. Korean-style socialism ensures that the Leader, Party, Army and People are united as a social organism. Wealth differentials are almost non-existent in the DPRK and social mobility is a reality in the Korean Socialist society. The society in the DPRK can seen as history's most egalitarian social system. Democracy (Demos-People-Kratos-Power) is a daily practice in the DPRK, that the Korean People are the masters of everything in the land of Juche. Whereas elsewhere, in the imperialist countries, oligarchy is the ruling system.

Socialist society is a transitional one between capitalism and communism. In many ways, socialism can be compared to a motor vehicle, it can move forwards or backwards. What drives socialist society forward?  It is the highly consciousness and organised working ,masses, without the purposeful participation of the popular masses in social administration, there cannot be a socialist society in existence. Ideological consciousness and awareness among the working masses in socialist society is absoutley essential for the growth of the revolutionary gains.

Socialist society still has many remnants and practices from the old social order to contend with. The question of bureaucracy is one which has plagued many socialist societies in the past. If a ruling communist party is isolated from the masses and falls captive to bureaucracy, it will become impotent and will go under, as was the case with the communist parties in the USSR and Eastern Europe. The Workers Party of Korea took the issue of bureaucracy very seriously, KIM IL SUNG and KIM JONG IL established and developed the Chongsong-ri Method and the Taean Work System, in effect forms of workers' control.

The revolutionary traditions of self-reliance are being carried forward and consolidated by KIM JONG UN. Self-reliance was displayed in the manufacture and launch of the Kwangmongsong No.3 satellite on 12th December, 2012 and in the successful third nuclear test, which was carried out on 12th February, 2013. Due to self-reliance, the Korean Peoples Army has built up a formidable military force, with weapons which can strike into the heart of enemy territory. The imperialists have to deal with Peoples Korea as an equal dialogue partner, because the DPRK has the will and the means to defend its independence and socialism from any aggressor.

In his New Year Address for 2013, KIM JONG UN, stressed the need for building a thriving socialist nation based upon self-reliance. All economic sectors have gone ahead in the spirit of the Masikryong Speed. Lots of industrial establishments across the DPRK have finished the first half-yearly assignments ahead of schedule. More than 1,000 hectors of fruit field have come into being in Pukchong County, South Hamgyong Province. The Pyongyang Essential Foods Factory and the Phyongsong Synthetic Factory were constructed. Peoples Korea has made huge advances in the fields of I.T. and Nano-Technology. This year, 2013, the DPRK scientists produced "The Samjiyon Tablet Computer", which has a 1.2GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM.

A wave of innovations have been registered in the construction of the Masik Pass Ski Resort, the reclamation project of the Sepho Tableland, the expansion of the Kosan Fruit Farm and the building of the second stage of the Hunchon Power Station. The Fatherland Liberation War Museum was renovated in a grand manner. The Runga Peoples Sports Park and the Pyongyang International Football School were also built. Improvements to Changjon Street were continued in 2013. Wages and salaries, social services, the quality and quantity of consumer goods have all grown over the 2012-13 period in the DPRK. 

To uphold independence in an age of globalization presents alot of challenges to the DPRK. As in the past, now in the present and in the future, the Korean People will continue to "Live Their Own Way!", not following others' fashions and trends. The Korean People will stay on the road of independence and socialism, on the path of Victory and Glory shown by President KIM IL SUNG and Chairman KIM JONG IL, under the Leadership of the the Dear Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN.

LONG LIVE KIMILSUNGISM-KIMJONGILISM, THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGY OF THE 21ST CENTURY! 

 

LONG LIVE THE DEAR RESPECTED COMRADE KIM JONG UN!

LONG LIVE THE JUCHE IDEA!  VICTORY TO GLOBAL INDEPENDENCE!

A text of a speech delivered by Shaun Pickford to a seminar of the Juche Idea Study Group of England on 7th December, 2013. Shaun Pickford is currently the Secretary General of the JISGE.

All quotations are from the work "LET US INCREASE THE PARTY'S FIGHTING EFFICIENCY AND BRING ABOUT A FRESH TURN IN THE BUILDING OF SOCIALISM" KIM JONG IL. Published by Foreign Languages Press, Pyongyang,