Comrades
today I am going to speak about the Juche Idea and the achievements
of People’s Korea . Obviously the two are very closely linked
because People’s Korea would not exist without the Juche idea and
the leadership of comrades Kim Il Sung , Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un
and the achievements of People’s Korea are inseparable from the
Juche Idea . I am hoping that my humble talk will explain what Juche
is and what means in practice.
Although
Juche is a simple yet varied philosophical concept , the basic core
principle idea that is that man is master and decides everything .
Juche defines man as possessing independence, creativity and
consciousness. As comrade KIM JONG IL said in his historic treatise
“ON THE JUCHE IDEA “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.
The
philosophical principle of the Juche idea is the principle of
man-centred philosophy which explains man’s ̄s position and role
in the world. “
The
Juche idea is a new and original philosophical idea that clarifies
the man-centred philosophical principle.
However
it does not mean that the Juche idea has nothing common with
Marxism-Leninism or the former denies the latter.
The
basic principles of Marxism-Leninism are the truth. The Juche idea
has a close connection with Marxism-Leninism with commonness in its
mission and class ideal.
In
other words, the Juche idea inherits the mission and class principle
of Marxism-Leninism. The Juche idea approves the truthfulness of
Marxism-Leninism and regards it as its presupposition. The Juche idea
is a theory founded, developed and enriched in the course of applying
and developing it creatively in accordance with requirements of the
revolutionary practice in the present era.
However,
the historical exploit of the Juche idea is not to have developed
Marxism-Leninism but to have clarified a new man-centred
philosophical principle.
In
a word, there is inheritance between the Juche idea and
Marxism-Leninism, but the main is the originality of the Juche idea.
The Juche idea approves historical exploits of Marxism-Leninism, but
does not consider it as a complete revolutionary idea of the working
class.
As
a matter of fact the young general KIM IL SUNG took Marxism-Leninism
and his fathers, Kim Hyong Jik , idea of Chiwon or Aim High as the
basic sources for the Juche idea. It is complete nonsense to assert
as some irrational dogmatists do that Juche is opposed to Marxism
Leninism.
Juche
is not opposed to materialism or dialectics. Indeed Juche is fully in
accord with materialism as it stresses that man is the master rather
than any supernatural being or force existing outside of nature and
matter. Man is the highest and most developed form of matter
therefore man is the master of the world.
The
word Juche was first by the great leader President Kim Il Sung in a
speech titled “ On eliminating dogmatism and formalism and
establishing Juche in ideological work” which
was made to propagandaists and agitators of the Workers Party of
Korea in December 1955. However it goes back much further than that.
President Kim Il Sung first elaborated the Juche idea on the
historical Kalun meeting of leading personnel of the Young Communist
League of Korea and Anti-Imperialist Youth League in June 1930.
Comrade
Kim Il Sung whilst waging the revolutionary struggle in his early
years became acutely aware of the need to establish Juche and rely
on the forces of the Korean people to liberate Korea. Factionalists
and bourgeois nationalists believed in relying on outside forces to
secure Korea's independence. The term flunkeyism is used to denote
those who fawn on big powers and try to depend on them . This
has a very long and unfortunate history in Korea . The feudal ruling
class did not believe in making an efforts to either defend the
country or to develop the country . Around the turn of the 19th
century and
the 1900s
different factions of the ruling class believed in relying on
different outside powers . There
was pro-Russia faction , a pro Chinese faction and a pro Japanese
faction . None
of them believed in relying on the Korean people or the resources of
the country but instead placed big hopes on outside powers . When
the pro-Russian faction was in power Russian troops guarded the
Royal Palace and when the pro-Chinese faction was in power Chinese
troops guarded the Royal Palace . Various big powers competed between
each other in Korea : namely Japan, the US , Tsarist Russia, China
and even Britain and France .
Basically
Korea
lost independence completely by 1910 due the sycophancy or
flunkeyism of the feudal ruling class, the Ri dynasty, and to the
competition amongst big powers.
When
comrade KIM IL SUNG began his revolutionary struggle he found that
the bourgeois nationalists did not believe in relying on the people
but instead despite Korea's bitter experience turned to big powers
.Some taken in by Wilson's preaching of 'self-determination' thought
of the US as their saviour ,others thought China could help them and
others still thought if they submitted a petition to Japan that this
would secure independence somehow. There was also talk about
non-violence and self-cultivation and self-education. The bourgeois
nationalists were split into factions. They all had several things in
common: they did not rely on the people , they believed that an
outside power could do the job for them and avoided direct struggle
against Japanese imperialism.
The
existing communist movement in Korea at the time was no better. It
was split into 3 or 4 factions. Their membership was drawn from the
middle class, the bourgeoisie and the ruined aristocracy , a bit like
the CPGBML these days I suppose !. These factions just believed in
debating amongst themselves and sending representatives to the
COMINTERN to get recognition but like the bourgeois nationalists did
believe in carrying out active struggle .
How is Juche expressed in bread and butter terms ? What does in mean in terms of immediate day to day policies. Chairman KIM JONG IL in his work “On the Juche Idea “ said “If the revolution and construction are to be carried out as required by the Juche idea, independence must be maintained and realized in Party and state activities.
The leader laid down the principles of Juche in ideology, independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy, and self-reliance in defense as the principles of realizing independence. The principles of Juche, independence, self-sufficiency and self-reliant defense are the guiding principles of realizing independence in the spheres of ideology, politics, the economy and defense”
So Juche can be defined in terms of its practical application as having three core principles namely independence, self sustenance and self-defence. Of course this is not to reduce Juche as simply meaning self-reliance.
The
DPRK has always proudly maintained political independence . It is
known is today as the most independent and anti-American country on
the face of the earth. Socialism in the DPRK is not a copy of
another country but is
Korean style socialism.
The DPRK pursued a
unique and original path to socialism finding creative solutions to
issues like industrialisation , agricultural co-operativisation and
the socialist transformation of private trade and industry . Of
course this was not smooth as big power chauvinists tried to
manipulated and instigated factionalists and revisionists within the
WPK to try and overthrow the leadership but this was defeated in
August 1956 , it should be noted that it was not just pro-Soviet
factionalists who were defeated but also pro Chinese factionalists
as well. In recent the DPRK defeated an attempt by the modern
factionalist group to seize power and make the DPRK dependent on a
neighbouring big power.
Juche
correctly stresses independence . I think we have all seen the
pitfalls of relying on other countries . Many in the communist
movement had illusions about the Soviet Union and ended up in despair
when it collapsed in 1991. Some big countries have chopped and
changed their policies at random. For example we saw how a certain
country was waving Little Red Books and shouting about world
revolution but nowadays that country gets on very well with US
imperialism . There are also many examples of big power sacrificing
the interests of smaller countries such as Cuba in 1962.
Political
independence is underpinned by the independent national economy .
In
the late 1950 when the DPRK was just recovering from the severe
destruction caused by the US imperialists during the Fatherland
Liberation War
the
modern revisionists and great power chauvinists tried to put pressure
on the DPRK to join the CMEA but it refused to do so maintaining the
line of economic independence. The great leader President Kim Il Sung
defined the independent national economy as follows ;
building
an independent national economy means building a diversified economy
equipping it with up-to date technology and creating our solid bases
of raw materials,thereby building up an all embracing economic system
in which every branch is structurally interrelated so as to provide
domestically most of the products of heavy and light industry and the
agricultural produce needed to
make
the country wealthy and powerful and to improve the people's living
condition"
The
Soviet big-power chauvinists and modern revisionists tried to
subordinate the DPRK economy to their own but President KIM IL SUNG
was having none of it and adhered to the line of economic
independence .The big power chauvinists tried to induce the DPRK to
join the CMEA by offering electricity from the Lake Baikal power
station.
At
that time President KIM II SUNG told them: “We
will not use electricity generated by the power station; if we become
dependent on electricity from you and then you fail to supply
it, then we would suffer greatly; if we have funds for transmission
cables from the power station to our country, it would be more
effective for us to use these funds to build another hydroelectric
power station in our country. It has become more clear today that our
decision to build socialism by our own efforts on the principle of
self-reliance and not enter the CMEA was quite correct"
The
DPRK put self-reliance into effect in many fields. It achieved
self-sufficiency in grain in the early 1960s. The DPRK produced its
own "Juche Fibre " Vinalon which was invented by a south
Korean scientist Dr Ri . Vinalon is fibre producedfrom limestone
abundant in the DPRK.
Todayy
dear respected Marshal KIM
JONG UN who
stressed the idea of self -development saying
that
"Worship of big countries and dependence on foreign forces is the road to national ruin; self-development alone is the road to sustaining the dignity of our country and our nation and to paving a broad avenue for the revolution and construction
"Worship of big countries and dependence on foreign forces is the road to national ruin; self-development alone is the road to sustaining the dignity of our country and our nation and to paving a broad avenue for the revolution and construction
DPRK
in the 1990s and shopping it was sometimes difficult to find DPRK
made products but in October 2015 the Koryo Hotel shop had few non
DPRK products in it as did the Airport shop .
This
bring me on to the subject on what Juche has achieved in terms of
building socialism .The DPRK led by the great leader President KIM
IL SUNG upholding the banner of
self-reliance was able to carry out socialist industrialisation at a
rapid pace . Between 1957 and 1970 industrial output value increased
by 19.1 per cent per year . In the late 50s the growth of industrial
output value hit 36 per cent per year. It was no wonder that the
famous British economist Professor Joan V Robinson of Cambridge
University issued the term “Korean miracle” to refer to the DPRK
after visiting in 1964. A high level of growth continued in the 70s
with the yearly growth rate in industrial output value being 16 per
cent.
The DPRK has provided people
with the right to work,housing is provided at a very low cost or even
totally free(one could only sigh when you contrast this to the recent
headline about house prices in London going up even faster).Education
is also free up to all levels which include university and post
graduate study. School clothes and other things for children are
either free or sold at 50% of cost price. Mothers with more than 3
children can work a 6 hour day but be paid for 8 hours. The
retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women. Free medical care was
introduced in 1953 and buttressed by further legalisation in 1960 and
1980 .All treatment is including medicine is free and the state even
pays travelling expenses to the sanatorium!Taxation including local
autonomy tax was abolished in 1974.
Such measures have not been
taken in all socialist countries nor in rich countries but have been
taken in the DPRK because of the profound concern of the great leader
comrade Kim Il Sung for the people and the belief that the country
should shoulder full responsibility for the destiny and well-being of
the people.
The
DPRK now has nuclear weapons including the H bomb as well as
ballistic missiles.
In the past Korea under feudal Ri dynasty could even produce the
simplest weapons except for very crude matchlock rifles. The feudal
rulers looked to Russia and China for defence instead of mobilising
the Korean people . Korea was caught up in the contention between
rival imperialist powers such as Japan, US , Russia , China , Britain
and France . Eventually it lost its independence.
This
proves the validity and accuracy of the Juche idea .
Thank
you for listening
Further
Reading
ON
THE JUCHE IDEA by KIM JONG IL
ON
JUCHE IN OUR REVOLUTION -KIM IL SUNG 3 VOLUMES
Modern
Korea: The Socialist North, Revolutionary Perspectives in the South,
and Unification by Kim Byong Sik International
Publishers 1970
WHAT IS THE VIEW
OF THE JUCHE IDEA ON THE WORLD
THE TORCH OF
JUCHE THAT ILLUMINATES HUMAN SOCIETY
KOREA IN THE
21ST CENTURY
MAN’S DESTINY
AND JUCHE IDEA
JUCHE IDEA:
ANSWERS TO HUNDRED QUESTIONS
Appreciate especially the historical background Vs. foreign powers. It explains quite a lot for the development of Juche.
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