KIM IL SUNG
LET US FURTHER STRENGTHEN THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM
OF OUR COUNTRY
Speech Made at the First Session of the Fifth Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
December 25, 1972
Comrade Deputies,
Elections
to the Fifth Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea were held successfully at a time when all of our
people were making a great new revolutionary advance on all fronts of
socialist construction, upholding the decision of the historic Fifth
Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and when the whole nation was
seething with a burning desire for independent, peaceful reunification.
All
our citizens, with great pride and a sense of honour as citizens of the
DPRK, participated in the elections and expressed their unreserved
support for and profound trust in our Party and the Government of the
Republic. These elections strengthened our revolutionary power still
more, consolidating the revolutionary base of the northern half of the
Republic.
On
behalf of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the
Government of the Republic, I should like to express warm thanks to all
the people for their unreserved support for and deep trust in our Party
and the Government of the Republic as manifested in the recent
elections.
Comrades,
twenty-four years have passed since the Korean people embarked on the
creation of a new society and a new life under the banner of the
Republic, with a genuine people’s Constitution, the first of its kind in
their history. In this period our people, under the wise leadership of
the Workers’ Party of Korea, have made great achievements in the
socialist revolution and in the building of socialism. During these
years there has been a truly great transformation in this country and
epoch-making changes have taken place in the political, economic and
cultural spheres of our people’s life.
Our
situation today urgently demands the establishment of a new Socialist
Constitution to give legal force to the tremendous achievements of our
people in the socialist revolution and the building of socialism and to
lay down the principles of the political, economic and cultural features
of socialist society. Therefore, we formed a Commission for the
Drafting of the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK and have prepared a
draft Socialist Constitution. The draft Socialist Constitution of the
DPRK was discussed at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the
Workers’ Party of Korea and considered by the Central Committee of the
Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland before it was
submitted to the Supreme People’s Assembly.
The
adoption of the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK at the current
session of the Supreme People’s Assembly will be a historic event in our
people’s revolutionary struggle and work of construction.
1. THE STRUGGLE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC FOR THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTION AND BUILDING OF SOCIALISM
Comrades,
the socialist revolution is the most complete social transformation in
the history of mankind for the abolition of the exploitation of man by
man once and for all and for opening up a new path of social progress.
If
the working class and the Marxist-Leninist party that fight to liberate
the masses of the people from exploitation and oppression and ensure
them a happy life are to fulfil their historic mission, they must lead
the people in carrying out the socialist revolution. Only when the
people who have extricated themselves from the colonial enslavement of
imperialism take the road to socialism, can they be completely liberated
from class exploitation and national oppression, and enjoy a free and
happy life and achieve their country’s sovereignty and independence and
national prosperity.
In
our country the socialist revolution began after the carrying out of
the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution in the northern
half of the Republic following liberation. It is a logical process of
revolutionary development that the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal,
democratic revolution led by the working class changes to the socialist
revolution.
After
the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution had been
carried out, our country had a socialist economic sector consisting
mainly of the state-run economy, alongside a small-commodity sector
consisting of the individual peasant economy in the country areas and an
urban handicraft economy, and a capitalist economic sector of
capitalist trade and manufacturing in towns and the rich peasant economy
in rural areas.
As
long as the capitalist and small-commodity sectors were left intact, it
was impossible to eradicate the sources of exploitation and poverty
completely and free the productive forces of society entirely from the
shackles of old production relations, and develop the nation’s economy
as a whole speedily and in a planned way. Therefore, in order to free
our people completely from all sorts of exploitation and oppression and
develop the country’s productive forces rapidly, we had to carry out the
socialist revolution upon the completion of the democratic revolution.
Furthermore,
we had to do this in order to strengthen the unity and solidarity of
all the people based on the worker-peasant alliance on a new socialist
foundation, wipe out the strongholds of the reactionaries and the
breeding ground of old ideas, and augment the political basis of the
revolution.
Our
people thus entered the period of transition to socialism immediately
following the democratic revolution. However, in the days of peaceful
construction our socialist revolution was only partially started; it was
still in the preparatory stage. Because of the war forced on us by the
US imperialists, the socialist transformation in the northern half of
the Republic had to be interrupted temporarily, and our socialist
revolution could virtually start only after the war.
Postwar
socio-economic conditions in the northern half of the Republic urgently
demanded the full-scale acceleration of the socialist revolution.
The
war badly damaged the material and technological foundations of
agriculture and brought extreme poverty not only to the poor peasants
but also to the middle and rich peasants. After the war our country
areas were very short of draught cattle, farm implements and manpower,
and there was also an acute shortage of food and clothing. Since
agriculture had been so severely damaged, the continuation of the
individual peasant economy would have made it impossible to restore the
productive forces of agriculture speedily and solve the postwar food
problem, which had become very serious. Unless the devastated productive
forces of agriculture were rapidly restored and the food problem
solved promptly, there was the danger that the development of industry
and the national economy in general would be held back and that a
serious disparity would arise between industry, which was then being
reconstructed and developed quickly in a planned way, and agriculture,
which was being rehabilitated slowly. In addition, if the small peasant
economy had been left intact, we would not have been able to improve the
living conditions of our impoverished peasants rapidly and, in
particular, to solve the problem of the poor peasants whose number had
increased during the war. In short, the limitations of the individual
peasant economy in our country manifested themselves most strikingly in
the postwar years and we could not allow this situation to exist any
longer. The only way to overcome these difficulties was to go over to a
cooperative form of agriculture.
The
war also greatly depleted individual trade and manufacturing in the
towns. The capitalist traders and manufacturers suffered such severe
losses that they were reduced to straitened circumstances just as the
handicraftsmen and small merchants were. After the war the
entrepreneurs and merchants were unable to recover their previous
economic positions or eke out a living by themselves. The only way out
for these impoverished entrepreneurs and merchants was to work
collectively, pooling their efforts and funds with the assistance of the
state, that is, to take the socialist path. It was not only the demand
of our revolution but also an objective necessity arising from the
conditions facing the capitalist traders and manufacturers, that they
had to be led to follow the road to socialism after the war.
The
full-scale acceleration of the socialist revolution after the war was
also necessary in order to strengthen the revolutionary base of the
northern half of the Republic. Only by continuing to accelerate the
revolution in the north was it possible to turn it into a strong base to
eventually guarantee national reunification and the nationwide victory
of the revolution. Therefore, the continued and vigorous acceleration of
the revolution in the north was not only needed for the revolutionary
development of the north itself but it was also essential for the
advancement of the Korean revolution as a whole.
On
the basis of a scientific analysis of the revolutionary situation
created in our country after the war, our Party considered the postwar
period the most appropriate stage for the socialist revolution, and in
its April 1955 Theses, set forth the policy of stepping up the socialist
revolution full scale.
The
most important thing in transforming the old production relations in
town and country and establishing the unchallenged supremacy of
socialist production relations is the cooperativization of the
individual peasant economy.
In
the light of the specific postwar situation in our country our Party
and the Government of the Republic advanced a policy to transform the
economic forms along socialist lines prior to the technological reform
of agriculture, and enterprizingly launched an agricultural cooperative
movement.
Since
the socialist transformation of agriculture was urgently demanded by
the revolution after the war, we could not postpone agricultural
cooperativization simply because the economy had been damaged and our
technological development was still at a low level. The decisive
condition for agricultural cooperativization does not lie in whether
agriculture is equipped with modern technology but in whether this step
is a vital demand of the peasants themselves, whether the revolutionary
forces are prepared to carry it out. As Marxism-Leninism teaches us,
even a collective economy which merely pools the peasants’ land and farm
implements can achieve an improvement in the economy which would,
otherwise, be impossible in the individual small peasant economy, and,
at the same time, can raise the productivity of labour several times
over. Thus, our Party waged a struggle to transform economic forms first
in order to meet the urgent need of social development, instead of
waiting until industrialization was carried out. As a result, we were
able to restore and develop the productive forces of agriculture, which
had been severely damaged by the war, rapidly, and to press ahead with
the technical revolution in the country areas in step with industrial
development.
In
guiding the agricultural cooperative movement, our Party and the
Government of the Republic strictly observed the voluntary principle.
Our Party categorically rejected coercive methods in this movement and
adopted a number of correct policies to persuade the peasants to join
the cooperative economy voluntarily.
An
object lesson in the cooperative movement is the best way of persuading
the peasants engaged in centuries-old methods of individual farming to
join cooperative farming voluntarily. We intensified the ideological
education of the peasants, and at the same time, established a pilot
stage and worked to show them the advantages of the cooperative economy
by practical example.
Taking
into consideration the fact that the land remained the private property
of the peasants and that their property status and ideological
awareness varied, we laid down three forms of agricultural cooperative
economy and encouraged the peasants to choose the form they considered
most appropriate for them. In pooling the peasants’ means of production,
we saw to it that according to their desire, draught cattle and farm
implements were pooled or were left under private ownership for a
certain period while being used collectively, and when they were pooled,
due compensation was made without fail. These measures taken by our
Party helped the peasants of different levels to accept the policy of
cooperativization readily and made it possible to prevent some
deviations which, otherwise, might have appeared in the course of the
cooperative movement.
In
drawing the peasants of various levels into cooperative farming
according to the voluntary principle, our Party followed the class
policy of relying firmly on the poor peasants, strengthening the
alliance with the middle peasants, and restricting and gradually
reforming the rich peasants.
Our
Party first organized a few agricultural cooperatives in each county on
a trial basis with the poor peasants and the hard core of people in the
rural areas who had most actively supported agricultural
cooperativization, consolidated them and, on this basis, developed the
cooperative movement. Meanwhile, the poor peasants were encouraged to
play the leading role in all the agricultural cooperatives. It also made
sure that cooperatives were not organized exclusively with well-to-do
peasants and that the rich peasants were not allowed to influence the
work of the agricultural cooperatives. At the same time, it strictly
guarded against the tendency to force the middle peasants into the
cooperative economy or infringe upon their interests and so weaken the
alliance with them, and demonstrated the superiority of the cooperative
economy to the middle peasants through competition between individual
and cooperative farming. As for the rich peasants, we did not
expropriate and eliminate them but encouraged them to join cooperatives
voluntarily, restricting their ability to exploit others.
Throughout
the period of the agricultural cooperative movement our Party and the
Government of the Republic persistently carried out organizational and
political work amongst the peasants, and, relying on socialist industry,
gave enormous material and technical assistance in diverse forms to the
agricultural cooperatives and helped them in terms of manpower. This
guidance and assistance played a decisive role, both in shoring up the
weak agricultural cooperatives organized with poor peasants in the early
stage to show their advantages over the individual economy, and in
consolidating the cooperative economic system politically and
economically.
Thanks
to these intelligent and creative policies of our Party and the
Government of the Republic, our agricultural cooperative movement
proceeded quite smoothly and was successfully completed in only four or
five years.
To
establish the unchallenged dominance of socialist production relations
in town and country, it is necessary to carry out a socialist
reorganization of individual trade and manufacturing as well as
agricultural cooperativization.
In
the early days of the transition period, our Party began to set up
handicraft cooperatives on a trial basis, and in the postwar period,
pressed ahead with this programme, carrying it out successfully in a
short period.
In
the socialist reorganization of individual trade and manufacturing, our
Party and the Government of the Republic devoted particular attention
to the transformation of capitalist trade and manufacturing. Taking into
account their characteristic features in our country, our Party adopted
the line of reforming the capitalist traders and manufacturers along
socialist lines, instead of expropriating them.
The
national capitalists in a colonial, semi-feudal society, although
inconsistent, have some revolutionary spirit and are keenly interested
in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic revolution. In the
light of these capitalists’ characteristics, we won them over to the
side of the revolution and carried out the national-liberation struggle
and the democratic revolution with their participation. From the
beginning our policy with regard to the national capitalists was not
only to carry out the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, democratic
revolution with them, but also to take them along with us to a
socialist, communist society. Therefore, we could not expropriate the
entrepreneurs and traders in the stage of socialist revolution just
because the capitalist traders and manufacturers were the targets of the
revolution. Moreover, we had no need to expropriate them because
capitalist trade and manufacturing were totally destroyed in the war and
the entrepreneurs and traders supported the Party’s line of socialist
revolution. And they had nothing, so we could not expropriate them.
Therefore,
our Party adopted the line of transforming capitalist trade and
manufacturing along socialist lines and ensured that capitalist traders
and manufacturers were drawn into various forms of cooperative economy
in strict observance of the voluntary principle as all requisite
conditions for this were ripe after the war.
We
first strengthened producers’ cooperatives, formed of handicraftsmen,
and then gradually drew entrepreneurs into the cooperative economy; we
organized marketing cooperatives or production-and-marketing
cooperatives with individual traders and progressively increased the
proportion of production in those cooperatives so as to reorganize them
into cooperatives entirely engaged in production. Under the Party’s wise
guidance, our socialist transformation of capitalist trade and
manufacturing progressed at a very high speed and was completed in 1958
at almost the same time as agricultural cooperativization.
With
the successful accomplishment of the historic task of the socialist
transformation of the old production relations in town and country, an
advanced socialist system free from exploitation and oppression was
established in the northern half of our country. The victory of the
socialist system in the north opened up a broad path for the further
promotion of socialist construction and the radical improvement of the
people’s material and cultural welfare.
Comrades,
our Party and the Government of the Republic pressed ahead with the
struggle for socialist construction relying on the triumphant socialist
system.
In
socialist construction our Party held fast to the principle of carrying
on energetically both the work of laying the material and technological
foundations for socialism and the work of educating and reforming
people along communist lines, that is, the struggles to seize the
material and ideological fortresses for the building of communism.
Socialist
economic construction is one of the most important revolutionary tasks
facing the working-class party and state. It is only when socialist
economic construction is carried out successfully that it is possible to
attain a high level of development of the productive forces
commensurate with a socialist society, to improve the people’s material
and cultural standards systematically, and to secure the political
independence and Chajusong of the country.
Our
people’s struggle for socialist economic construction went through
three stages—the stage of postwar reconstruction, the stage of laying
the basis of industrialization and the stage of completing
industrialization. At every stage of socialist economic construction
our Party and the Government of the Republic set forth correct lines and
policies which suited our specific conditions and organized and
mobilized all the Party members and the working people for a powerful
struggle for their implementation.
Over
the whole period of socialist economic construction our Party has
consistently adhered to the basic line of socialist economic
construction on giving priority to the growth of heavy industry at the
same time as developing light industry and agriculture.
This
basic line is a correct line built on an accurate analysis of the
requirements of the law of our postwar economic development and our
actual potential. It is also a creative application of the
Marxist-Leninist theory on extended reproduction in conformity with our
specific conditions; it is a correct line which renders it possible to
guarantee the balance between different branches of the national economy
and attain a high rate of production growth.
In
implementing this line our Party and the Government of the Republic
gave priority to the creation of heavy industry with the machine
industry at its core.
Our
Party’s line in the building of heavy industry was to create our own
solid bases which would be able to produce most of the raw materials,
fuel, power, machines and equipment needed for the development of the
national economy by relying on the rich natural resources and sources of
raw materials in our country. In order to build solid heavy industry
bases we rebuilt and expanded the existing factories in this field and,
at the same time, built new industrial branches and a number of
factories and other enterprises. In building heavy industry, we ensured
that this industry was not built as an end in itself, but to serve the
development of light industry and agriculture and the improvement of the
people’s living standards more effectively. This policy of our Party
has enabled us to build a powerful heavy industry of our own with a
comparatively small capital investment, thereby developing light
industry and agriculture rapidly.
Today
we have a powerful heavy industry with all its key branches, and its
capacity has increased considerably. Our machine industry, in
particular, has made rapid progress. It has reached such a level that it
is now able to produce different kinds of large, precision machines and
complete sets of equipment for modern factories.
Our Party and the Government of the Republic have devoted considerable effort to the growth of light industry as well.
In
this regard, our Party pursued a policy of simultaneously developing
large-scale, centrally-run industries as well as medium- and small-scale
local industries. Our Party and the Government of the Republic ensured
that large, modern factories of the centrally-run light industry were
established, and at the same time, that many local industry factories
were set up by using local reserves extensively and that the
technological reconstruction of local industry was increased.
The
policy of developing central and local industries simultaneously has
helped to increase the production of consumer goods rapidly, with no
major capital investment from the state, and to guarantee a high rate of
development of the national economy as a whole by concentrating state
funds on heavy and central light industries. The growth of local
industry has also made it possible to purchase and process, in season,
farm produce and the peasants’ sideline products raising their living
standards rapidly and improving the supply of consumer goods for urban
dwellers as well.
As
a result of the successful implementation of our Party’s policy in the
development of light industry, large, modern factories of central light
industry and thousands of local factories have now come into being, and
their technological equipment has been improved to a marked extent. Our
light industry has now grown into a firm base for the production of a
variety of consumer goods, capable of meeting the working people’s
needs.
The
rational distribution of the productive forces is of great importance
for the further development of the national economy as a whole and for
carrying out the long-term programme of socialist and communist
construction successfully.
In
distributing the country’s productive forces, our Party and the
Government of the Republic followed the principle of bringing factories
and other enterprises closer to the sources of raw materials and the
consumer areas, of guaranteeing the balanced development of different
branches of the national economy and all regions of the country, and
rapidly narrowing the difference between town and country. In rebuilding
the national economy after the war, we, in accordance with this
principle, located new factories and enterprises in different areas,
while rebuilding many factories and enterprises where they already
existed in order to guarantee the speeding up of rehabilitation and to
save funds. As a result, new industrial towns came into being all over
the country, the integrated bases for industrial production were built
in localities and the previous defects and irrationalities in the
distribution of industries were completely eliminated.
The
rational distribution of industries enabled us to use our nation’s
natural resources and manpower effectively to speed up socialist
economic construction and develop all the areas of the country equally.
It also helped to consolidate the worker-peasant alliance by
strengthening the political, economic and cultural ties between the
working class and the peasantry, to eliminate the backwardness of the
countryside and drastically reduce the difference between town and
country, and class differences between the workers and peasants, by
increasing the assistance of industry to agriculture and the support of
towns for the rural areas. Moreover, it prevented excessive
concentration of factories and population in a few cities as well as
environmental pollution, which is a great social problem in capitalist
countries today.
One
of the main tasks in socialist economic construction is that of
developing agriculture rapidly. Our Party and the Government of the
Republic strove to consolidate the material and technological
foundations of agriculture and increase its production while
cooperativizing the individual peasant economy. In particular, we gave
top priority to the ideological revolution in the countryside, in
accordance with our Party’s programme of socialist rural construction. Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country, and, at the same time, vigorously carried out the technical and cultural revolutions.
Irrigation
was a primary task in the technical revolution in our country areas. In
the years that followed the armistice the Government of the Republic
implemented many irrigation projects in step with the agricultural
cooperative movement and, with the completion of cooper-ativization,
pushed ahead with the irrigation programme in a nationwide movement. In
our country the irrigation of paddy fields has now been completed and a
large portion of non-paddy fields has been irrigated, and drainage
projects have been completed in our major rice-producing areas. Thus our
peasants’ centuries-old desire to farm free from the threat of drought
and floods has been met.
The
Government of the Republic ensured that many medium and small power
stations were built in addition to large ones and thus successfully
completed the task of rural electrification. Every ri in this country
now has electricity and every farmhouse has electric light. In the
country areas, electricity is used extensively not only for the cultural
home lives of the peasants but also as a source of power for machines
and heat in agricultural production.
The
Government of the Republic has also devoted a great deal of effort to
developing mechanization and encouraging the use of chemicals in
agriculture. Our Party and the Government of the Republic have
guaranteed that tractors, lorries and various kinds of efficient farm
machines, chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals were produced
in large quantities for the country areas. As a result, the level of
mechanization and the use of chemicals in agriculture have risen
greatly and our peasants are gradually being freed from hard and
backbreaking work.
Agricultural
production has increased rapidly with the progress of the rural
technical revolution. Our rural areas, where poverty and ignorance
prevailed in the past, have now become rich modern socialist
communities.
Training
our own cadres was a matter of vital importance in this country which
was once a backward colony. Immediately following liberation, our nation
had very few cadres, and this was a serious drawback in running the
state and building our economy and culture. Therefore, our Party and the
Government of the Republic devoted great efforts to the training of our
own cadres and, in particular, took steps to train a large army of
technicians capable of carrying out socialist construction which was
proceeding on a large scale after the war. We developed a regular system
of higher education as well as various programmes offering higher
education for those who were already working, and firmly established
comprehensive cadre-training bases in the localities. Consequently, our
country now has a large army of some 500,000 technicians and
specialists. They are managing state and economic organizations and
cultural institutions, and modern factories, enterprises and cooperative
farms very well.
Our
people’s struggle for the socialist revolution and the building of
socialism was carried on under the very difficult conditions of the
enemy’s constant hostile actions. In order to defend the country and the
people and protect the gains of the revolution in the face of the
enemy’s aggression, our Party and the Government of the Republic paid
great attention to increasing our defence capabilities throughout the
whole course of the revolution and construction work. In particular, we
advanced the new line of carrying on economic and defence construction
simultaneously in the light of the intensified aggressive actions of the
US imperialists. We reorganized the whole work of socialist
construction in a revolutionary way and paid more attention to building
up our defence capabilities. In order to perfect our national defence we
diverted a large amount of manpower and material resources to this
purpose, even though this to a certain extent proved detrimental to
economic construction, and organized and mobilized all the people to
implement the Party’s military line. As a result, our People’s Army has
now become an invincible revolutionary armed force; all our people have
been armed and the whole country has been fortified. We can confidently
say that we have defence capabilities which are powerful enough to
repulse invasion by any and all enemies, defend our country and people,
and protect our revolutionary gains.
Educating
and transforming people along communist lines is one of the most
important tasks of socialist and communist construction.
Man
is the master of nature and society and the main factor that decides
everything. The popular masses are the masters of a socialist society,
and they are also the ones who are able to promote the revolution and
construction work. Therefore, if we are to build socialism and
communism, we must not only lay the country’s firm material and
technological foundations, but also educate and reform people, the
masters of society, along communist lines and bring their creative
wisdom and revolutionary enthusiasm into full play.
Our
Party and the Government of the Republic advanced a correct line and
policy to educate and reform the people at every stage of the revolution
and construction, and worked hard to implement this. In the period of
socialist revolution we strove to turn all members of society into
socialist working people through a close linking of the transformation
of economic forms with the reformation of people. After the triumph of
the socialist system, we pressed ahead with the re-education of the
people along communist lines, on the basis of the line of
revolutionizing and working-classizing the whole of society.
In
educating and reforming people, our Party and the Government of the
Republic have always kept to the principle of raising the ideological
preparedness, the sense of organization and the cultural level of the
working class and of educating and reforming the peasants and
intellectuals on the working-class model.
We
increased the class awareness of the workers, first of all, by
strengthening political and ideological work amongst them, constantly
tempered them in actual production and carried out a strong campaign for
the organizational and ideological consolidation of the ranks of the
working class. This greatly increased the vanguard role of the working
class in the revolution and construction, and strengthened their
revolutionary influence on the working people. Our working class has now
become the most advanced and revolutionary class which, instead of
working for a few pence, works with complete devotion for the prosperity
and progress of the country and the freedom and happiness of the
people. It is discharging its duties admirably as the leading class of
the Korean revolution.
Our
Party and the Government of the Republic also paid great attention to
educating and reforming the peasantry, one of the main forces of the
revolution. By intensifying the working-class guidance and assistance to
the country areas we have accelerated the technical and cultural
revolutions there and have, at the same time, pressed ahead with the
ideological revolution. As a result, the peasants’ level of ideological
consciousness has risen markedly and they have adopted a revolutionary
and communist way of life. As reliable builders of socialism our
peasants are today working faithfully for society and the collective,
and are striving to supply more food to the workers and all other
working people and to produce sufficient raw materials for light
industry.
The
working class which has assumed power must build up the ranks of the
intellectuals. This is essential for the rapid development of science
and technology, literature and art and for the successful building of
socialism and communism. In the whole course of the revolution and
construction, our Party and the Government of the Republic have
perseveringly carried on the education of intellectuals and, in
particular, directed great efforts to the education and reformation of
old intellectuals. With the implementation of the Party’s policy on the
education and reformation of our intellectuals, they have become
transformed into socialist working intellectuals and are confidently
advancing along the road indicated by the Party. Our intellectuals are
not working for fame or glory, but for the Party and the revolution, for
the country and the people with all their knowledge and talents, and
are fighting vigorously side by side with the workers and peasants in
the same revolutionary ranks to consolidate and develop our socialist
system.
The
education and reformation of the working people are tasks designed to
eliminate all outdated ideas which remain in their minds and overcome
their old habits and arm them with the revolutionary ideas of the
working class, communist ideology. Our Party and the Government of the
Republic, therefore, have conducted the work of educating and reforming
people by means of explanation and persuasion with the main emphasis on
ideological education. We intensified the education of the working
people in Party policy and, at the same time, patiently carried on
communist education with class education as its main content, so that
all the working people have been firmly armed with the advanced
revolutionary ideas of the working class, communist ideology.
Strengthening
revolutionary organizational life is one of the important ways to
educate and reform people along communist lines. Our Party and the
Government of the Republic have paid particular attention to encouraging
all the working people to take an active part in organizational life,
observe organizational discipline voluntarily and conduct their lives
under the guidance and supervision of their organizations. In
particular, we have carried on the ideological struggle by the method of
criticism and have tempered the working people in a revolutionary
spirit through the ideological struggle.
Our
Party and the Government of the Republic closely combined practical
activities with the work of educating and reforming people through the
Chollima Workteam Movement’s, and guaranteed that tills work became the
work of the masses themselves.
With
the successful progress of the education and reformation of the working
people in a communist way, a great change has taken place in the
political and ideological life of our people and our revolutionary ranks
have been strengthened and developed into an invincible force.
Under
our Party’s wise guidance the Government of the Republic has achieved
great successes in the revolutionary struggle and work of construction
in the past years. It has established the most advanced socialist system
in this land where exploitation and oppression prevailed before, and
converted our backward colonial agrarian country in a very short time
into a socialist power with its solid independent national economy and
enormous defence capacities. It has brought about a brilliant flowering
and development of science and culture and achieved great success also
in the work of revolutionizing and workmg-classizmg the whole of
society. We have won great victories in the socialist revolution and
building of socialism and risen to a new peak which lies on our way to
socialism and communism.
2. THE SUPERIORITY OF OUR SOCIALIST SYSTEM
Comrades,
The outstanding success achieved in all spheres of politics, economy
and culture since the triumph of our socialist revolution is graphic
evidence of the superiority and indestructible vitality of our socialist
system.
Our
socialist system is the most advanced social system where the working
masses are masters of everything and where everything in society serves
the working masses.
The
working masses transform nature and society and make history, The
creative labour and struggle of the working masses produce all the
material riches of society and bring about social change and progress.
That is why the working masses should become masters of society and
enjoy all its material wealth.
The
working masses are not, however, masters of their society in every
society. People’s position in society is determined by whether or not
they hold state power and the means of production in their hands. Only
those who have both can be the masters of society.
In
an exploiting society, the toiling masses are not the masters of
society but victims of exploitation and oppression, suffering all kinds
of humiliations and insults to their dignity, because they hold no state
power and own no means of production. In a capitalist society where
money is everything, even the dignity of a man is determined by the
amount of money he has; poor people are treated like commodities.
Only
in a socialist society can the working masses enjoy an independent and
creative life as real masters of society. Today all our government
policies are geared to the interests and happiness of the workers,
peasants and other working people; all the wealth of society is
dedicated to the promotion of their welfare. In our society the working
masses are valued highly and they and their rights are respected. In
this country, especially, the rising generation who represents the
future of society are treasured more than anyone else; every effort is
made to bring them up to be happy, free from the social evils inherent
in an exploiting society.
The
fact that the working masses in a socialist society are the masters of
society and that they and their rights are respected to the utmost is
explained precisely by their being masters of state power and the means
of production. This is the basis of all the advantages and
indestructible vitality of the socialist system.
Our
socialist system is a genuinely democratic system which guarantees in
practice the political rights and liberties of the workers, peasants and
other working people.
Regardless
of sex, occupation, property status, education and party affiliation,
all our working people have the right to elect and to be elected and are
guaranteed all rights to and freedom of social and political activities
such as speech, the press, assembly and demonstration. The workers,
peasants and other working people, who were formerly held in bondage
without any rights, now participate directly in state administration
and politics as masters of state power and conduct free social and
political activities as members of political parties and social
organizations. Our working people today enjoy a dignified and fruitful
life with genuine political rights and liberties under the socialist
system.
By
contrast, in a capitalist society where state power is in the hands of
the small minority of exploiting classes, the working masses have no
political rights or freedoms. The working people do not even have the
most elementary right and freedom to express their political views, to
say nothing of the right to participate in state power; they only have
the obligation to obey the exploiting classes. The so-called “liberties”
and “rights” loudly advertised by capitalists are confined exclusively
to the rulers and exploiting classes to oppress and exploit the masses
of the people; the “democracy” they advocate is nothing but a means of
camouflage to cover up the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
The
superiority of our socialist system also lies in the fact that the
state takes full responsibility for the material and cultural well-being
of the workers, peasants and other working people.
Providing
an equally prosperous life for the people and systematically improving
their material and cultural standards is one of the intrinsic
characteristics of the socialist system. In a socialist society the
state serves the interests of the people and is responsible for ensuring
the material and cultural well-being of the working people, whereas the
state in an exploiting society serves as a tool of oppression and
exploitation against the workers and peasants.
Today
everyone of working age in our country is provided with a job by the
state, according to his ability and aptitude, and is rewarded according
to the quantity and quality of work done. The working people also
benefit from labour protection, an eight-hour workday, paid holidays,
and accommodation at holiday homes and sanatoria; they are provided with
safe working conditions and adequate leisure time. In particular, the
working mothers enjoy tremendous benefits from the state. Besides
providing jobs for all who can work, our state also assumes
responsibility for those who cannot work because of old age, injuries
arising from work or ill health, and for old people and children who
have no other means of support. Therefore, in our country no one roams
about searching for work or resorts to begging; all our people, young
and old, are leading a happy life under the care of the state and
society.
All
our working people are provided with adequate food, clothing and
housing by the state. Everyone in this land is given the right to be fed
the moment he is born; all children and students, from those in creches
and kindergartens to students in colleges and universities, are
supplied with clothing by the state. The state provides our workers and
office employees with good living quarters, and the peasants also live
in modern houses built by the state.
Universal
free medical care has also been introduced in this country, so that all
working people are free from worries about this. There are medical
institutions and medical workers in both urban and rural areas, wherever
people work and live. Through the section doctor system, an advanced
system of medical services, the state looks after the health of the
working people in a responsible way. Our mortality rate has now been
reduced by half, and the average life span of the people increased by 26
years, compared with the pre-liberation years. Our people’s age-old
desire to eradicate all sorts of diseases has been realized only under
our sodal system.
Everyone
in this country is provided with adequate conditions for education and
development. All our students, from primary school children to
university students, now receive free education, and preschool children
are growing up happily in creches and kindergartens at state and public
expense. In particular, with the introduction of universal compulsory
ten-year education which gives ten years of schooling, plus one year of
compulsory preschool training, our younger generation are receiving
eleven years of excellent general education provided by the state. This
is virtually an eleven-year compulsory education, which means that the
most advanced compulsory education in the world is given in this
country.
The
socialist state also offers opportunities of learning for the adults
who were previously deprived of the right to study in the exploiting
society and left far behind in terms of social culture. All our working
people are learning to the best of their ability in accordance with
their desire and aptitude, in working people’s middle schools, factory
higher technical schools, factory colleges and other educational
institutions where they study while on the job. Indeed, our country is a
“land of education”, a “land of learning”, where everyone studies at
the expense of the state.
Although
they do not live in luxury like the landlords and capitalists, all our
people are now living an equally good life and studying according to
their wishes, without having to worry about work, food, clothing and
housing. This clearly shows that our socialist system is a system truly
for the workers, farmers and all the other people.
The
socialist system is the best social system, not only providing the
people with a happy life today but also promising them a brighter
future. Since all the fruits of labour in socialist society are used for
social progress and for improving the welfare of the working people,
increasing social wealth brings the people ever greater abundance and an
ever higher level of cultural life.
However,
in a capitalist society the handful of exploiters grow richer with each
passing day, whereas the working people making up the overwhelming
majority of the population become more and more impoverished and
miserable. A capitalist society is a society where “the rich get ever
richer and the poor get ever poorer,” the gulf between the exploiting
and the exploited classes growing daily; it is a living hell where the
working masses are impoverished and starved.
All
these facts make us take great pride in our socialist system, a
people’s social system which is truly for the workers, peasants and
working intellectuals.
In
our country the economy, culture, science and technology are making
steady rapid progress. This is one of the great advantages of our
socialist system.
A
socialist society provides every opportunity and possibility for the
rapid and continuous development of the economy. In this society a
planned and balanced economic development is guaranteed by the state
through a planned mobilization and use of all the nation’s manpower and
material resources and through a coordinated control and guidance of
production, distribution, accumulation and consumption. In this society
the working people also display a high degree of revolutionary
enthusiasm and creative initiative in their productive activities, since
they work for their society and collective and for their own welfare as
masters of the country.
As
the functions of the state as an economic organizer increase and the
ideological consciousness of the working people grows in our country,
the economy develops steadily at a high rate. Our industrial production
grew at a high rate—an annual average of 19.1 per cent—throughout the
period of industrialization from 1957 to 1970, and the difficult and
complex task of socialist industrialization was creditably accomplished
in a very short time, in only 14 years.
In
a socialist society literature and art flower brilliantly. The
socialist system has placed not only state power and the means of
production but also literature and art in the hands of the people, and
thus opened up a highway for the development of literature and art and
made them true literature and art which serve the working masses.
Today
broad sections of our working people are taking an active part in
literary and artistic activities and enjoy them to their hearts’
content. Because of their popular and revolutionary character our
literature and art are developed into full bloom, enjoying the boundless
affection of the people.
It
is one of the essential advantages of the socialist system that the
politico-ideological unity of the popular masses is strengthened and the
relationship of comradely cooperation between the working people
develops day by day.
The
elimination of the exploiting classes and all kinds of exploiting
systems has fundamentally changed the position and social status of the
workers, peasants and working intellectuals. The establishment of the
socialist system has made all our people socialist working people and
wrought a radical change in their mental and moral qualities. Because of
their common socio-economic status and their common goals and
interests, our working class, cooperative farmers and working
intellectuals are firmly united politically and ideologically and
cooperate closely with each other as comrades.
In
a capitalist society which is built on rabid selfishness and where the
law of the jungle prevails, fraud and swindling are rampant and people
are antagonistic and hostile to each other, and it is a common practice
for them to sacrifice others for their own fame and career, comfort and
pleasure. In our society, however, all its members are imbued with true
comradeship, respecting, trusting and cooperating with each other on the
principle of collectivism. Our working people are fully displaying the
fine communist spirit of moving ahead together, the informed teaching
theless informed and the advanced leading the less advanced forward.
Today
our society has been turned into a great, harmonious Red family where
all the people are dosely united as a political force; in this great
family everyone is working and living filled with revolutionary
enthusiasm and optimism. All the people are united politically and
ideologically and working with revolutionary zeal. This is precisely the
basis of the solidity of our society and the source of our
indestructible strength.
Our socialist system is displaying its superiority and unbreakable vitality more fully with every passing day.
Through
their own experience our people are convinced that only the socialist
system can guarantee genuine liberties and rights to the working masses
and provide them with a most bountiful and happy life; they regard it as
the greatest honour and pleasure to live and make revolution under this
system. The people in the northern half of the Republic will not
surrender to anyone our socialist system which they themselves have
chosen and whose superiority and great vitality have been unequivocally
proved, and they are all aglow with a determination to fight on
staunchly to consolidate and develop this system.
3. THE MAIN CONTENT OF THE SOCIALIST CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Comrades,
The current session of the Supreme People’s Assembly is going to adopt
the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK with a view to consolidating the
socialist system established in the northern half of the Republic and
intensifying the struggle for the complete victory of socialism.
The
new Socialist Constitution correctly reflects the achievements made in
the socialist revolution and in building socialism in our country,
defines the principles to be followed in governing activities in the
political, economic and cultural fields in a socialist society and the
basic rights and duties of citizens, and stipulates the composition and
functions of the state organs and the principles of their activities.
Its purpose is to give legal protection to the socialist system and the
dictatorship of the proletariat established in the northern half of the
Republic and to serve the revolutionary cause of the working class.
The
Socialist Constitution of the DPRK legislatively affirms the political
victories and successes attained by our people in the revolutionary
struggle in past years and defines the character and functions of our
state and the principles of its activity to meet the needs of our
revolutionary development.
It
proclaims the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea an independent
socialist state. In our country the socialist system has been
established, the political and ideological unity of the entire people
resting on the worker-peasant alliance led by the working class
strengthened with this system as its basis and the historic task of
socialist industrialization creditably accomplished. As a result, the
Government of the Republic has been strengthened and developed into a
socialist power on a new socialist basis and a firm political
foundation.
The
sovereignty of the DPRK belongs to the workers, peasants, soldiers and
working intellectuals. The Supreme People’s Assembly and local people’s
assemblies at all levels are composed of deputies representing the
workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals, and they manage
and operate the state organs. Our state is a genuine state of the
workers and peasants in which the working masses are the masters of the
country and all the people exercise power. Therefore, our state regards
it as its supreme duty to protect the interests of the workers,
peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals freed from exploitation and
oppression for ever.
The
Government of our Republic which has inherited the glorious
revolutionary traditions of our people is guided in its activity by the
Juche idea which is a creative application of Marxism-Leninism in the
conditions of our country, and strives to execute the lines and
policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
It
is the fundamental revolutionary task of the Government of the Republic
to attain the complete victory of socialism in the northern half of the
Republic, expel foreign forces on a nationwide scale and achieve the
reunification and independence of the country on a democratic basis. For
the successful implementation of this task we must, first of all,
strengthen the function and role of our Government to intensify the
struggle against the hostile elements at home and abroad who are opposed
to our socialist system, and accelerate the ideological revolution to
revolutionize and working-classize all the members of society.
The
Socialist Constitution makes it clear that in its activities the
Government of our Republic must always carry through the class and mass
lines, give priority to political work, work with people in all matters
as required by the Chongsanri spirit and Chongsanri method to rouse the
voluntary enthusiasm of the masses, and persistently keep up the
Chollima Movement, our Party’s general line in socialist construction,
thus pressing ahead with communist education and the reformation of the
working people and economic construction.
It
also clearly stipulates the duties of the armed forces of the DPRK and
the national defence policy based on the principle of self-defence as
well as the foreign policy of the Republic based on the principles of
complete equality and Chajusong, Marxism-Leninism and proletarian
internationalism.
The
Socialist Constitution of the DPRK legally affirms the achievements
attained by our people in the building of an independent national
economy and clarifies the principles governing our socio-economic life.
The
socialist ownership of the means of production is the economic
foundation of the DPRK. All the economic activities of our state and the
socio-economic life of the working people are thoroughly based on the
principles of socialism, and the nation’s economy is steadily developing
at a very high rate, on the basis of the socialist relations of
production which have held undivided sway in town and country. The
economic power of the DPRK is firmly guaranteed by the great superiority
of socialist production relations and the solid foundations of an
independent national economy.
Labour
is one of the most important elements which form the basis of
socio-economic life in a socialist society. The Socialist Constitution
gives a clear definition of the character of labour, the principles
governing the working life of the working people and the socialist
principle of distribution in our society.
Socialism
and communism can only be built by the creative labour of the working
millions. It is a solemn duty and the greatest honour of the working
people in a socialist society to love work and participate
conscientiously in the communal labour for the building of socialism and
communism. All our working people take part in labour, and work for the
sake of their country and people and for their own welfare, displaying
voluntary enthusiasm and creativity.
The
fruits of labour in our country are allocated entirely for national
prosperity and progress and the promotion of the well-being of the
working people. It is an immutable socialist principle that all the
working people work according to their ability and take their share
according to the quantity and quality of work done. Our state regards
the steady improvement of the people’s material and cultural life as its
primary duty, as the supreme principle guiding its activities.
The
Socialist Constitution stipulates the socialist form of economic
management and the principle of state guidance of the economy in our
country.
The
Taean work system, under which the economy is managed in a scientific
and rational way on the basis of the collective strength of the producer
masses, and the new system of agricultural guidance, under which
agriculture is directed by industrial methods, are the best socialist
forms of economic management, whose superiority has been clearly proved
in practice. In addition, unified and detailed planning constitute the
socialist system and method of planning, which make it possible to
tighten the discipline of democratic centralism in economic management
and ensure a high rate of growth in production and the balanced
development of the national economy. The decisive guarantee for the
successful building of the socialist economy is to give full rein to the
superiority of the socialist economic management systems created by our
Party and guide and manage the economy to meet the requirements of
these systems.
The
Socialist Constitution also sets forth the economic tasks of laying
firmer material and technological foundations of socialism, emancipating
the working people once and for all from heavy labour, gradually
turning cooperative property into all-people’s property and eliminating
the differences between town and country and the class distinction
between workers and peasants.
The
Socialist Constitution of the DPRK, on the basis of the shining
achievements made by our people in the development of culture, makes
clear the direction to be taken in carrying out the cultural revolution
thoroughly and accelerating the building of a socialist national
culture, as well as the principles which must be observed by the state
in this sphere, The basic aim of the cultural revolution in a socialist
society is to train all the working people to be competent builders of
socialism and communism with a profound knowledge of nature and society
and a high level of technology, and make our culture a true people’s
revolutionary culture which serves the socialist working people. To
attain this aim of the cultural revolution, we must resolutely combat
cultural infiltration by imperialism and any tendency to return to the
past and rapidly develop education, science, literature and art and all
other domains of socialist cultural construction on a sound basis.
The
Socialist Constitution specifically explains the state’s educational
policy of carrying through the principles of socialist education and
combining general education closely with technical education, and
education with productive labour, as well as vital people’s education
programmes such as the introduction of compulsory ten-year education for
all our young people under working age. The Constitution also
elucidates our state’s revolutionary policies for developing science,
literature and art, physical culture and sports and the public health
service.
The
Socialist Constitution of the DPRK explicitly provides for the basic
rights and duties of citizens in keeping with the intrinsic nature of a
socialist society. In this country where there is no exploitation or
oppression and where social and individual interests are in full accord,
the citizens’ rights and duties are based on the collectivist principle
of “One for all and all for one”. The basic rights of citizens laid
down in the Socialist Constitution are legal confirmation of the
democratic rights and liberties enjoyed by our people in their daily
social life. The duties of citizens as stipulated in the Constitution
are honourable duties which must be fulfilled by the people, as the
masters of their country, in consolidating and developing the socialist
system and in making their homeland richer and stronger.
The
Socialist Constitution of the DPRK contains new provisions concerning
the composition and functions of the state organs, and the principles of
their activity to suit the existing conditions of revolutionary
development.
The
new state structure instituted under the Socialist Constitution will
allow the workers, peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals to take a
more active part in state affairs and state administration and enable
state organs to serve the people’s interests better and push ahead more
vigorously with the revolutionary struggle and work of construction by
improving their functions and role.
Our
organs of power are composed of representatives of the workers,
peasants, soldiers and working intellectuals; they protect the interests
of the working people and fight for the people’s freedom and welfare.
The new state structure is built in such a way that the activities of
administrative bodies are always supervised and controlled by the
popular masses. Under the new state structure, unlike the old one, the
people’s committees are separated from administrative bodies, and the
former which are composed of representatives of the workers, peasants,
soldiers and working intellectuals are to perform the function of
exercising day-to-day supervision and control over the latter’s
activities, so that officials of the administrative bodies will be able
to do away with bureaucracy in their work and serve the people better.
The
Socialist Constitution defines the principles of democratic centralism
as the basic principle of organization and activity for all state
organs. Democratic centralism in their organization and activity makes
it possible for them to carry out Party lines and policies in a
coordinated way throughout the country and organize and mobilize the
entire population for the work of building socialism and communism.
Since they are based on democratic centralism, the organs of
people’s power are able to perform their functions and role
satisfactorily as a powerful tool for the building of socialism and
communism.
The
Socialist Constitution of the DPRK is a most popular constitution for
the benefit of the workers, peasants, soldiers and working
intellectuals. The new Constitution fully reflects their will and desire
and thoroughly defends the working people’s interests. The new
Constitution also gives all the people genuine freedoms and rights in
all spheres of social life and legally guarantees all conditions to make
them viable.
The
Socialist Constitution of the DPRK is a most revolutionary
constitution. Unlike those constitutions which refer mainly to the state
structure, our Socialist Constitution, which lays down all the
principles governing the political, economic and cultural activities in a
socialist. society, will serve as a sharp weapon of the proletarian
dictatorship to protect the policy of our Party and the Government of
the Republic and firmly defend the gains of the socialist revolution, as
a powerful means for giving a strong impetus to socialist economic
construction and for revolutionizing and working-classizing the whole of
society by intensifying the ideological and cultural revolutions and
establishing a socialist way of life.
With
the institution of the Socialist Constitution, the Government of the
Republic will have a new weapon of the proletarian dictatorship and our
people will be provided with a dependable legal guarantee in the
struggle to achieve the complete victory of socialism and the
independent, peaceful reunification of the country. The coming into
force of the Socialist Constitution in the northern half of the Republic
will greatly encourage the people in south Korea who are fighting for
the democ-ratization of society and the country’s independent, peaceful
reunification.
With
the Socialist Constitution coming into force a change will take place
in the political, economic and cultural life of our people and they will
advance with redoubled strength along the path of socialism and
communism, deeply convinced of the justness of their cause.
4. OUR TASKS IN THE CONSOLIDATION AND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM
Comrades,
The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and our
people are confronted today with the historic task of consolidating and
developing the socialist system and attaining the complete victory of
socialism, by promoting the revolutionary struggle and construction
unflaggingly, on the basis of the brilliant achievements gained in
building a new society.
In
order to achieve the complete victory of socialism we must eliminate
the differences between towns and the country areas and the class
distinction between the workers and the peasants, reinforce the material
and technical foundations of socialism, markedly improve the material
and cultural standards of the people, smash the insidious schemes of
hostile classes and do away with the corrosive influence of old ideas
once and for all.
The
struggle for the complete victory of socialism is a battle for the
final liquidation of the vestiges of the old society from all spheres of
social life; it is a battle to transform society on the pattern of the
working class in all realms of the economy and culture, ideology and
morality. To attain the complete victory of socialism, therefore, the
working-class party and state must press ahead with the fight to occupy
two fortresses, the material and the ideological, on the way to the
building of communism. We must continue to promote the technical,
cultural and ideological revolutions to consolidate the socialist system
and achieve the complete victory of socialism.
The
basic goal of the technical revolution at the present stage is to carry
out successfully its three major tasks as set out at the Fifth Congress
of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
These
three tasks which aim to narrow the disparity between heavy and light
labour and between agricultural and industrial labour considerably and
to free women from the heavy burden of household chores, are an
honourable undertaking to guarantee the complete victory of socialism;
they are a strategic task facing us in socialist construction after
socialist industrialization. To fulfil these three major tasks is the
basic way to release the working people from arduous labour, provide
them fully with equal working conditions and speed up the technological
reconstruction of the national economy and the development of the
productive forces. Furthermore, only when these tasks are carried out,
will it be possible to succeed in solving the questions of raising the
technical and cultural standards of the working people, reforming their
ideological consciousness and eliminating the difference between town
and country and the class distinction between workers and peasants.
Holding
the three major tasks of the technical revolution set forth by the
Party as the paramount question in socialist economic construction at
present, the Government of the Republic will strive for their successful
implementation.
In
order to reduce the distinction between heavy and light labour and
eliminate work in excessive heat or under other harmful conditions, we
must raise the general level of mechanization, semi-automation and
full-scale automation where these work conditions exist. We must also
introduce the comprehensive mechanization of agriculture and the greater
use of chemicals on a wide scale to reduce the difference between
agricultural and industrial labour. At the same time, in order to free
our women from the heavy burden of household drudgery, we must provide
them with adequate conditions to do kitchen and other household work
quickly and easily. In order to reach these three major targets a
vigorous mass movement for technological innovation must be started in
all fields of the national economy, bringing about a new advance in
production.
We must first make an effort to develop the machine industry and bring about an improvement in this branch.
The
technical revolution is essentially a mechanical revolution. Machinery
is the determining factor in alleviating people’s arduous labour, and
the productive forces are also developed by the improvement of
machinery. The successful carrying out of the three major tasks of the
technical revolution depends, in the final analysis, on whether or not
various kinds of modern machinery and equipment are produced
satisfactorily through the rapid development of the machine industry.
To
advance the machine industry, priority must be given to increasing the
production of machine tools rapidly and steadily. True to the Party’s
call, the heroic workers in this industry have recently brought about an
innovation in the production of machine tools and admirably attained
the production goal of 30,000 units per annum, thus opening up bright
prospects for the victorious implementation of the three major tasks of
the technical revolution. Workers in the machine industry, not resting
content with this victory, must work hard to continue increasing the
production of machine tools while consolidating the success already
achieved and, in particular, must work hard to increase the variety and
improve the quality.
A
rapid increase in the production of tractors and lorries is urgently
needed for the fulfilment of the three major tasks of the technical
revolution and this is one of the most important tasks confronting the
machine industry. To carry out the comprehensive mechanization of
agriculture successfully, our Party advanced a policy of providing 6-7
tractors and one lorry for every 100 hectares of fields in the near
future. So that this policy can be thoroughly implemented, the tractor-
and lorry-manufacturing centres must be expanded and consolidated and a
new innovation be effected in their production. If this is done, we
should attain an annual production level of 30,000 tractors and
15,000-30,000 lorries in a year or two.
An
important task now lacing the machine industry is to increase the
production of heavy machines and especially-ordered plant. We must
expand and consolidate the heavy-machine production centres to
manufacture greater quantities of universal drilling machines, large
bulldozers and excavators and various other kinds of heavy machines
needed for the extractive industries and large projects to harness
nature, as well as large ships, and improvements must be made in the
production of especially-ordered plant.
In
order to introduce semi-automation and complete automation extensively
in all fields of the national economy we must develop the electronics
and automation industries rapidly. Different kinds of automation
components, gauges and instruments must be mass-produced by making the
best use of the existing foundation of the electronics and automation
industries and, at the same time, many small and medium branch factories
must be developed to produce automation parts, gauges and instruments.
In
order to develop the machine industry quickly and fully guarantee huge
construction work we must increase the production of different kinds of
iron and steel materials and nonferrous metals significantly by
concentrating on the improvement of the metal industry. Projects now
under way to reconstruct and enlarge the Kim Chaek Iron Works, the
Kangson Steel Plant and other metallurgical plants on up-to-date lines
must be completed quickly to bring about a radical growth of production
and, at the same time, we must work hard to build another large modern
metallurgical base. In addition, the production of various nonferrous
metals must be drastically increased through the consolidation of their
production centres and the maximum use of the production capacities of
the smelters.
To
give priority to the extractive and power industries is an important
guarantee for the successful fulfilment of the three major tasks of the
technical revolution and for swift progress in all realms of the
national economy. In the extractive industries, geological prospecting
must always be given priority and the level of mechanization and
automation at coal and ore mines must be raised determinedly through a
dynamic technical innovation movement and, as a result, new innovations
will be made in production. In the power industry, production should be
raised to the maximum by taking good care of the equipment of the
existing power stations and, simultaneously, the construction of new
projects must be speeded up to hasten their commissioning.
An
important task of the chemical industry is to expand and consolidate
the raw material base for light industry and steadily augment the
production of chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals needed for
the technical revolution in country areas. The workers in the chemical
industry have already scored great achievements in the fight to fulfil
the Six-Year Plan. In particular, the production of vinalon and vinyl
chloride this year has already exceeded the level envisaged for the end
of the Six-Year Plan. In the chemical industry we must work, from now
onwards, to make better use of the existing production capacities and,
at the same time, strive to create up-to-date chemical industrial
centres. We must also normalize the production of ammonia through
gasification and markedly raise the proportion of phosphatic and
microelement fertilizers in the production of chemical fertilizers. In
addition, we have to build up the paper-making centres to supply
sufficient paper needed for both universal compulsory ten-year education
and the cultural revolution.
We
must carry out enormous construction work for the successful
implementation of the three major tasks of the technical revolution and
for further progress in the national economy. In capital construction we
have to concentrate our efforts on major projects which are of primary
significance in national economic development and the improvement of the
people’s living conditions, in accordance with our Party’s policy of
concentrated construction, and thus hasten their commissioning as much
as we can.
We
must make every effort to develop the building-materials and timber
industries, so that the demands for different construction materials are
fully met.
The
rapid development of light industry is extremely important in radically
improving the people’s living standards and freeing women from the
heavy burden of household chores. The Government of the Republic must
pay particular attention to the development of the textile and garment
industries and, in particular, strive to modernize the daily necessities
and food-processing industries. In order to streamline these latter,
the machine industry must produce large quantities of different
single-purpose machines. We must modernize the daily necessities and
food-processing industries as soon as possible through a mass campaign
for one machine to make another and for one factory to build another,
and thus bring about a great change in the production of consumer goods
and food.
The
main task in narrowing the differences between agricultural and
industrial labour and freeing the peasants from arduous work is to
effect the overall, comprehensive mechanization of agriculture. In
farming, we have to raise the level of mechanization radically and
concentrate our efforts particularly on the introduction of
mechanization in intermediary areas, in keeping with the rapid growth in
the production of tractors and lorries. We must carry out the
comprehensive mechanization of agriculture successfully; this can be
done by making maximum use of tractors through the enlargement of
tractor repair bases and tractor implement production centres and the
extensive levelling and realigning of fields. In addition, we must
increase the use of agricultural chemicals and widely introduce advanced
methods of farming and so bring about a fresh advance in agricultural
production.
Transport
plays a vital part in carrying out the three major tasks of the
technical revolution. In this branch we must continue to speed up
railway electrification and press ahead with the construction of new
railway lines and harbours, so that the material and technical transport
base is further strengthened. We must also improve the organization of
transport and mechanize loading and unloading operations. In this way,
we shall be able to carry the rapidly increasing goods traffic.
The
Government of the Republic must continue with the simultaneous
development of the cultural and technical revolution, The urgent task
facing us today in the development of culture is to train large numbers
of technical personnel to meet the demands of socialist construction,
and raise the working people’s general cultural level and technical
skills to a considerable extent.
We
must improve the work of universities and colleges, build more
universities and improve the work of night schools and correspondence
courses. By doing this we must determinedly carry out the decision of
our Party’s Fifth Congress on increasing the number of technicians and
specialists to more than a million in the next few years.
If
we are to raise the working people’s cultural level and technical
skills we must achieve universal compulsory ten-year education of a high
quality. In order to guarantee this fully the Government of the
Republic must provide all the necessary material conditions and improve
teachers’ training to produce large numbers of good teachers. In the
field of education, we must apply the principles of socialist education
thoroughly, so as to train all our students to be dependable builders of
socialism and communism, firmly armed with our Party’s revolutionary
ideology and equipped with ample knowledge, high morality and strong
bodies.
In
order to raise the general cultural and technical levels of the working
people, we must continue to develop the part-time educational system
which includes the working people’s middle school, factory higher
technical school and other schools, thus enrolling all the working
people in some educational establishments, so that they can study on a
regular basis.
In
this way, we shall ensure that all working people attain the level of a
senior middle school graduate and master more than one technical skill.
The
Government of the Republic must pursue the ideological revolution
vigorously and so achieve the revolutionization and working-dassization
of the whole of society in accordance with the Party’s consistent
policy.
In
revolutionizing and working-classizing the whole of society it is most
important to equip the working people firmly with our Party’s monolithic
idea, the Juche idea. Our Party’s Juche idea is the only correct
ideological guide to the successful carrying out of the Korean
revolution. It is only when the working people are firmly armed with
this idea that they can have a genuine revolutionary world outlook and
worthily discharge the tasks assigned to them in the revolution and
construction. We must intensify the education of the working people in
our Party policies and the revolutionary traditions so as to arm them
firmly with our Party’s monolithic idea, the Juche idea, thereby
training all of them to be true Red fighters of the Party, communist
revolutionaries, who adhere to revolutionary principles under any
adversity and carry through the Party’s lines and policies.
We
have to intensify communist education, with class education as its main
content, among the working people, while arming them with the Juche
idea, so that all of them are firmly armed with working-class
consciousness and collectivism, ardently cherish our socialist system
and work devotedly for its consolidation and development.
Steady
improvement of the material and cultural standards of the people is the
supreme principle governing all activities of the Government of the
Republic. As in the past, the Government of the Republic will continue
to make every effort to raise the people’s material and cultural
standards.
We
must firmly adhere to the principle of ensuring equal improvement of
all the working people’s living conditions while systematically
promoting the people’s welfare. The Government of the Republic must, in
particular, endeavour to eliminate differences between the living
standards of the workers and the peasants, and between the living
conditions of the urban and the rural population, while improving the
lives of the people as a whole, in accordance with the policy set forth
at the Fifth Congress of our Party.
We
must strengthen the organs of power and improve their functions and
role in order to implement the revolutionary tasks confronting us at
present and consolidate and develop the socialist system successfully.
To
strengthen the government of the workers and peasants, which isa
powerful weapon of the revolution and construction, is an important
guarantee for winning the complete victory of socialism and
accomplishing the historic cause of the working class. We must make
untiring efforts to strengthen the organs of power at all levels and
improve their functions and role in the revolution and construction.
The
organs of power from top to bottom must radically increase their role
as defenders of the political rights and interests of the workers,
peasants and other working people and as masters responsible for their
lives. They must strive to champion the working people’s political
rights in every way, protect their lives and property and see to it that
the people all live well. The organs of power at all levels must manage
commerce, town administration, education, public health services and
production and construction which are directly related to the people’s
life, and strengthen their leadership over them to provide better living
conditions for the people. They must protect and take good care of
state and communal property and fight resolutely against its
misappropriation and waste.
For
our Government to be a genuine government of the workers and peasants
which serves the interests of the revolution and the people faithfully,
we must ensure that the monolithic ideological system of the Party is
thoroughly established, above all, amongst the officials of the
government bodies. The government officials at all levels must arm
themselves more firmly with our Party’s monolithic ideology, always base
all their activities strictly on the Party’s lines and policies, and
defend and carry them through to the end under whatever difficult
conditions. At the same time, they must constantly improve their method
and style of work. Bureaucratism is one of the major defects that may
often manifest itself in the method and style of work after the seizure
of power by the working class. The government officials’ bureaucratism
stems from subjectivism as well as from the mistaken idea of equating
their posts with old-time government offices. It alienates the Party
from the masses and makes it impossible to carry out revolutionary tasks
successfully. We must completely do away with the bureaucratic work
method of the officials of government bodies and strictly adhere to the
Chongsanri method which is our Party’s revolutionary method of work.
The Government of the Republic must continue to work hard to increase the nation’s defence capabilities.
Since
we are building socialism in direct confrontation with US imperialism,
the ringleader of world imperialism, we must not neglect the work of
increasing the nation’s defence capabilities for even a moment. The
Government of the Republic must always exercise vigilance against the
war policy and hostile actions of the imperialists and augment the
nation’s defence capabilities in every way in accordance with the
revolutionary principle of self-defence. We must continue to implement
the Party’s military line thoroughly, the main content of which is to
turn the entire army into an army of cadres, modernize it, arm all the
people and fortify the whole country, and make the nation’s defences
impregnable so as to crush, at once, any aggressive acts of the
imperialists and firmly defend the security of the country and the
people and our socialist gains.
In
order to consolidate and develop the socialist system and hasten the
final victory of our revolution, we must strengthen our solidarity with
the revolutionary forces of the world while increasing our own
revolutionary forces.
The
principle consistently followed by the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea in its foreign policy is to develop friendship and cooperation
with all countries which are friendly towards our country, on the
principles of equality and mutual benefit. In the future, too, we shall
continue to maintain this principle in our foreign policy.
The
Government of the Republic will do its best to achieve the unity and
cohesion of the socialist countries and promote friendship and
cooperation with them on the principles of Marxism-Leninism and
proletarian internationalism.
It
will work to expand and strengthen its diplomatic relations with the
Asian, African and Latin-American countries which are fighting for
freedom and national independence and to establish and promote friendly
relations with more countries. We will also endeavour to establish
diplomatic as well as political, economic and cultural relations, on the
five principles of peaceful coexistence, with those capitalist
countries which wish to have good relations with our country and which
pursue unbiased policies which show no aggression against the north and
south of the Korean peninsula.
The
consistent policy followed by the Government of the Republic in its
external activities is to fight against the US-led imperialists’ policy
of aggression and war and for world peace and security.
The
US-led imperialists are still craftily pursuing their policy of
aggression and war under the ostensible slogans of “peace” and
“negotiations”. Holding aloft the revolutionary banner of
anti-imperialist, anti-US struggle, we shall fight on resolutely to
check and frustrate the imperialists’ policy of aggression and war and
defend the peace of the world. Furthermore, we shall give active support
and encouragement to the fight of all peoples of the world against
imperialism and work hard to strengthen solidarity with all the
anti-imperialist forces.
The
Government of the DPRK and the Korean people will always stand firmly
on the side of the peoples who are fighting for peace and democracy,
national independence and socialism.
In
the recent past the Korean citizens in Japan have achieved tremendous
successes in their battle to defend their democratic, national rights,
facilitate the independent, peaceful reunification of the homeland and
strengthen international solidarity with the Japanese people and other
progressive peoples of the world.
In
the future, too, they should continue to fight resolutely to develop
national education and achieve the right to return home and visit their
country, united closely around Chongryon (the General Association of
Korean Residents in Japan), under the unfurled banner of the Juche idea.
They should also make an active contribution to hastening the country’s
reunification, the supreme national task of our people, upholding our
Party’s policy of independent, peaceful reunification, and strengthen
internationalist friendship with the Japanese people and other peoples
of the world.
The
Government of the DPRK regards it as its solemn duty to protect our
nationals in Japan and all other Korean citizens abroad. The Government
of the Republic will continue to fight staunchly against all unjustified
acts of infringement on the interests and national rights of our
overseas citizens, and do all it can to support and encourage their just
struggle.
Comrade
Deputies, Our people have achieved great victories and successes in the
struggle for the socialist revolution and socialist construction under
the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, courageously
overcoming many difficulties and harsh trials. All these brilliant
victories and achievements testify to the correctness and indestructible
vitality of our Party’s Juche idea and demonstrate our people’s
inexhaustible might.
Our
people are faced today with the important task of achieving the
complete victory of socialism in the northern half of the Republic and
the independent, peaceful reunification of the country by promoting the
revolution and construction. In order to carry out this task, we must
continue our vigorous struggle with unabated energy and devotion, and
advance more quickly, overcoming all difficulties.
We
must thoroughly embody the new Socialist Constitution, which we are
going to adopt here, in all fields of state and social life, and press
ahead more determinedly with the revolution and construction. All our
citizens must observe the Socialist Constitution voluntarily and thus
bring about a great change in the revolutionary struggle and work of
construction.
Our revolutionary cause is a just one, and victory is definitely ours.
No
force can block the way of the Korean people who are marching forward
under our Party’s leadership, with state power firmly in their hands.
Let
us all unite closely around the Party Central Committee and the
Government of the Republic and advance valiantly towards the bright
future of socialism and communism, holding high the banner of
Marxism-Leninism, the revolutionary banner of the Juche idea.
