Comrades and friends,
The 75th anniversary of
the birth of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL is joyously celebrated by the
Korean people and world progressive people. This reflects the towering prestige
of comrade KIM JONG IL amongst the world progressive people.
I remember walking around both the Kumsusan
Palace of the Sun and the International Friendship Exhibition in Mt Myohyang
and been awe inspired by the depth of respect for comrade KIM JONG IL amongst
the world people. In the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun there were numerous medals,
diplomas ,degrees , awards and certificates from different countries ,even one
from a US university that you would not expect to see for obvious reasons . In
the International Friendship Exhibition I saw an honorary membership card of
the All Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks that had been awarded to comrade
KIM JONG IL. Some may ask what is so remarkable about an honorary membership card
from a small Russian Communist party ? However it is significant because in the
past the old Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the USSR, gripped by great
power chauvinism looked down on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and
Workers’ Party of Korea as the DPRK was a small country and derided the Juche Idea . However the
award of the membership card by the AUCPB showed that Soviet communists now
respected the DPRK and indeed looked up to it.
This is because the DPRK became known as the citadel of world socialism
after the collapse of socialism in the USSR and this is very much associated
with the leadership of generalissimo KIM JONG IL . The hostile forces
,chiefly the US imperialists predicted
the collapse of People’s Korea and the end of Juche socialism but comrade KIM
JONG IL skilfully led the Korean people through the difficult period of the
“arduous march “ when the DPRK faced unprecedented natural disasters , the
disappearance of the world socialist market and the sanctions of the
imperialists. He turned the situation around and put the DPRK on the launchpad
to becoming a thriving socialist nation.
Basically Great comrade KIM JONG IL developed
the great Juche idea,which had been authored by the great leader President KIM
IL SUNG and made People's Korea into a socialist military giant that every day
defies the US . Churchill is believed to said of Stalin , “He had found Russia working with wooden ploughs and leaving it equipped
with atomic piles.” Well it can be said of comrade KIM JONG IL that he
found a Korea with rifles and artillery and left is with atomic weapons and
long range missiles.
It is not the purpose of this paper to describe the life and
revolutionary activities of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL , this has
already been done by our secretary general Shaun Pickford at our December and I would also refer the audience to the
many excellent biographies published by the DPRK. Comrade KIM JONG IL was a
great leader amongst great leaders. His achievements were great and varied .
Indeed his leadership spanned several decades since he began his Songun
revolutionary leadership on the 25th of August 1960 at the Seoul Ryu
Kyong Su no 105 Tank Division of the Korean People’s Army . KIM JONG IL was a
remarkable leader, a genius who not only guided military affairs but also
guided culture and wrote the classic treatise
“On the Art of the Cinema” . However today we will look at two of
comrade KIM JONG IL’s most enduring achievements, namely the development of the
Juche Idea and the administration of Songun politics .
The Juche Idea had been enunciated by the great leader comrade KIM IL
SUNG at the historic Kalun meeting in June 1930. Later President KIM IL SUNG
made the historic speech “On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and
Establishing Juche In Our Ideological Work “ in December 1955. President KIM IL SUNG gave definitions of the
Juche idea in many of his works particularly answers to foreign journalists
such as the Japanese daily the “Mainchi Shimbun “ and the Japanese magazine
“Sekai “ . However no one had given an indepth and all round systematisation of
the Juche idea. I remember on a visit to the DPRK in the autumn of 1993
discussing the works and activities of
comrade KIM JONG IL with a researcher
from the Korean Juche Idea Academy . The researcher told me that the greatest
feat of the dear leader comrade KIM JONG
IL as he was known then was to
systematise the Juche idea of President KIM IL SUNG and for this reason it was only just and
correct that he should succeed President KIM IL SUNG.
The great leader comrade KIM JONG IL systematised the Juche Idea in his classic treatise “ON THE JUCHE IDEA”
which a was presented to the National
Seminar on the Juche Idea in the DPRK on
March 31st 1982(it will be
the 35th anniversary of the publication of this work in some 6 weeks
from now) which was held to mark the 70th birthday of the great
leader President KIM IL SUNG. Juche is all too often simplified and then
dismissed by the Western media as meaning self-reliance .However such an
approach does not do justice to the Juche idea . Of course in terms of day to
day policies the Juche idea is expressed through self-sufficiency in the
economy and self-reliance in national defence. However these ignoramuses of the
imperialist media are too thick to understand the whole basis of the Juche Idea
and the profound philosophical system around it . In the work “ON THE JUCHE
IDEA “ leader comrade KIM JONG IL expounds both the philosophical principle of
the Juche idea as well as the
socio-historical principle of the Juche Idea. Comrade KIM JONG IL defined the
philosophical principle of Juche thus “The
Juche idea is a new philosophical thought which centres on man. As the leader
said, the Juche idea is based on the philosophical principle that man is the
master of everything and decides everything. The Juche idea raised the
fundamental question of philosophy by regarding man as the main factor, and
elucidated the philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and
decides everything.
That man is the master
of everything means that he is the master of the world and of his own destiny;
that man decides everything means that he plays the decisive role in
transforming the world and in shaping his destiny.”
KIM JONG IL for the first time in the
history of philosophy defined man as having independence, creativity and
consciousness. Of course this does not mean that man is born naturally with
these attributes, these come about only when man is part of a social collective.
The publication of the work “ON THE JUCHE IDEA
“ took the world by storm. It was acclaimed by the world’s progressive people. 90
countries carried its full text or summary, and it was circulated in pamphlet
form in 144 countries. Seminars and lecture meetings on the work were widely
held in many countries.It was praised as
“a Communist Manifesto in the 80s
of the 20th Century “ , “ a
basic textbook for realisation of people’s independence “ and “the first
philosophical work to give an explicit
answer to the question of human emancipation “ Indeed I would point that the
publication of “ON THE JUCHE IDEA “ in 1982 was a shining light in what was a
very bleak and unpromising decade , the decade of Thatcher ,Reagan , Gorbachov
and Lech Walesa in which the progressive forces of the world say many setbacks
and reverses ,
Comrade KIM JONG IL went on to author other
important works on the Juche Idea such as “ Let
Us Advance under the Banner of Marxism-Leninism and the Juche Idea “, “On
Some Problems in Education in the Juche Idea “ , “On Establishing the Juche Outlook on the
Revolution “ and “The Juche Philosophy is an Original Revolutionary Philosophy
“ . In these works he further explained the Juche Idea .
The Juche Idea was not an academic
theory nor something created in smoke-filled beerhalls but a practical and
revolutionary philosophy , a guide to action. Under the leadership of President
KIM IL SUNG and the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL the DPRK was built up as a
state independent in politics , self-sufficient in the economy and self-reliant in defence . Under the
leadership of comrade KIM JONG IL the Korean people stuck firmly to the road of
Juche and successfully resisted all attempts of the imperialists ,
reactionaries , big power chauvinists and revisionists to derail Juche-based socialism in the DPRK. It is
thanks to Juche that the DPRK which is
sandwiched between big powers and is faced with the constant threat of US
imperialism and Japanese militarism has been able to maintain and uphold
independence. Thanks to Juche the DPRK can ,to use a Yorkshire expression, say
what it likes and like what it says . It can do what it wants without reading
the face of others.
Juche is underpinned by Songun politics and the Songun (military first )
idea which is also associated with the thinking and leadership of comrade KIM
JONG IL who began his Songun revolutionary leadership on the 25th of
August 1960 when he gave on-the spot-guidance
to the historic Seoul Ryu Kyong Su no 105 Tank Division of the Korean
People’s Army . The Songun idea was first pioneered by the great leader President KIM IL SUNG .
Comrade KIM JONG IL developed it further.
On the 1st of January 1995 comrade KIM JONG IL visiting the
Takabasol army post and declared that
the DPRK was at the crossroads , they faced a choice of being slaves of
imperialism or defending independence .To defend independence the DPRK must
administer Songun politics. Comrade KIM JONG IL declared that he would
administer Songun politics with iron determination
Comrade KIM JONG IL authored works such as “OUR
PARTY’S SONGUN POLITICS IS A POWERFUL POLITICAL MODE OF SOCIALISM” in July
2001 and ““The Songun-based Revolutionary Line Is a Great Revolutionary Line of
Our Era and an Ever-Victorious Banner of Our Revolution “ which provided an
in depth explanation of Songun politics and an elaboration of its essence.
Comrade KIM JONG IL explained that “Our
Party’s Songun politics is a unique political mode of socialism in which the
idea of giving priority to arms, military affairs, is brilliantly applied.” First,
he pointed out that the army is precisely the party, the state and the people
and reviewed the history of the revolutionary activities of President Kim Il
Sung who had pioneered and developed the Korean revolution by force of arms.
As the history of the revolutionary
struggle of the working class shows,victory in a revolution is unthinkable
apart from strengthening the revolutionary armed forces. Because the revolutionary struggle is accompanied by showdown
with counterrevolutionary forces, one can emerge victorious in a revolution and
defend the revolution only when one relies on powerful revolutionary armed
forces. Comrade KIM JONG IL clarified
this truth thus
“The
struggle of the masses of the people for the cause of independence, the cause
of socialism, is accompanied by confrontation of power with imperialism and all
sorts of other counterrevolutionary forces. Therefore, military affairs emerge
as a matter of key importance on which hangs victory or failure in the
revolution and the rise or fall of a country or nation. A country or a nation
can emerge victorious in the revolution and defend the revolution, and carve
out its destiny independently only when it has its own powerful revolutionary
armed forces.
It is the force of arms
on which hinge the victory of the revolutionary cause, independence and
sovereignty, and the prosperity of a country or a nation. This is the
Juche-oriented principle of revolution and the law of revolution, elucidated by
President Kim Il Sung and whose soundness has been verified by history.”
This
is the basic principle of Songun as defined by comrade KIM JONG IL . The
Songun Idea embodies the Juche Idea Moreover
the comrade KIM JONG IL also stressed that Songun is linked to anti-imperialism
and class struggle saying that “The
complex and grave situation of our revolution demands that the edge of class
struggle be sharpened and the working-class principle, the revolutionary
principle, be maintained more
thoroughly in all spheres. Our Party has upheld the banner of Songun in the
acute confrontation with imperialism. Our rifle is the rifle of class, the
rifle of revolution, and it is the most powerful weapon for anti-imperialist
class struggle. “
There is no doubt that the
administration of Songun politics by the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL
reliably defended the Korean revolution and People’s Korea from the threat of
aggression by the US imperialists. The
DPRK under the leadership of Generalissimo KIM JONG IL faced down the US
imperialists over the nuclear issue. It is now admitted by the US that it failed
in its objective of denuclearising the DPRK.
Songun politics has had international
repercussions. The Songun politics encourages the struggle of the people over
the world, with great attraction. Organizations whose
purpose is the study and dissemination of Songun politics are being founded.
For instance, there is the UK Association for the Study of Songun Politics, the
US Songun Study Group, the Ukrainian Treasured Sword of Songun Association, the
Ugandan Songun Study Association, the Bangladesh Songun Policy Study Group and
many other groups and associations throughout the world. A Songun Internet Group that promotes Songun
on the Internet has existed since 2003. There is also a Songun politics
Facebook page
Thus as we approach the significant
75th anniversary of the birth of the great leader generalissimo KIM
JONG IL we recall his great exploits in
developing the Juche Idea and the Songun Idea . To conclude the best way to
mark the birth anniversary of the great
leader comrade KIM JONG IL is to more actively disseminate the Juche Idea and
Songun Idea and defend People’s Korea .
GLORY TO THE MEMORY OF THE GREAT
LEADER COMRADE KIM JONG IL!
LONG LIVE DEAR RESPECTED MARSHAL KIM
JONG UN !
LONG LIVE THE JUCHE IDEA !
LONG LIVE THE SONGUN IDEA !
LONG LIVE PEOPLES’ KOREA !
FURTHER READING
GREAT LEADER KIM JONG IL by Tak Jin,
Kim Gang Il, Pak Hong Je
ON THE JUCHE IDEA –KIM JONG IL
No comments:
Post a Comment