Pyongyang - A City of Workers , a proletarian city -special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

                                                       

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about People's Korea ,sometimes these are due to misunderstandings and ignorance but usually false stories are spread by the imperialist mainstream media whose aim is to defame and slander People's Korea with a view to turning people against it and prevent people from seeing the truth .
   One frequent lie is that "Pyongyang is the city of the elite" (and by the way , the "elite' is never actually defined by the hack writers of imperialism) . Usually the people writing this kind of thing have never been to the DPRK , the nearest they have got to the DPRK is the south Korean puppet capital of Seoul but they have never set foot on the soil of the DPRK. It is reminiscent of the notorious anti-communist hack-writer and MI5 informant George Orwell who wrote two so-called 'novels' about the Soviet Union without actually visiting the place . Unlike Orwell and the various anti DPRK media propagandists I have been to the DPRK 18 times.
 This October I leave a delegation of the Juche Idea Study Group of England , Juche Idea Study Group of Scotland and UK KFA  to visit the DPRK .It was my 18th visit and the 2nd time visit for other members of the delegation.
   We were privileged to visit both  the Pyongyang KIM JONG SUK textile mill and the Ryuwon Footwear Factory . These two factories are just two of many factories in Pyongyang . In the past I have visited the Pyongyang Bag Factory and the Pyongyang cosmetics factory . Pyongyang also has major industrial enterprises such as the Kim Jong Tae locomotive factory plus two power stations . So rather than Pyongyang being a "city of the elite " many Pyongyang citizens are actually industrial workers , others are waitresses , shop assistants , drivers ,railway workers etc . In fact Pyongyang is a city of workers , a proletarian city. In fact probably one of the more working class cities I have actually been in . 
 Sadly my home city of London lacks industry , In the past there were many factories in London but due to de- industrialization caused by capitalist crisis plus policies of successive governments Labour and Tory  as well as the EU , many factories have been closed in London. I struggle to think of a single factory located near to my home . Pyongyang is a very productive city , it does not rely on international finance or retail for its wealth but instead on productive industries. In fact it also a self-reliant city as it has farms producing its food located within the boundaries of the city .                        

  At the Ryuwon Footwear factory ,in the south west of Pyongyang we were told that the factory ,which has 600 workers, has its own gardens producing food for the workers. This is not only an example of Juche and self-reliance but it is also environmentally friendly as it reduces the carbon footprint by eliminating the need to transport food to the factory . The DPRK is truly ingenious  !
                        

  Visiting the Pyongyang KIM JONG SUK textile factory on our last day was truly informative . This factory is named after the anti-Japanese revolutionary heroine Madame KIM JONG SUK who is also known as the Mother of Korea .The factory has 1,600 workers (very few UK factories have that number of workers ) and has extensive grounds . It is located very near to the centre of Pyongyang , something unthinkable in London. It is also nicely situated by being near to the banks of the River Taedong . We were told there are blocks of flats behind the factory for workers as well as a hostel on site. This is a pleasant contrast to London and other capitalist cities where workers have to spend hours travelling into work . I remember with my old job it used to take an hour each way to get into work . Worse still we have to pay very high fares to travel into work , I paid £2,000 for a 1-4 zone annual travelcard in London but workers at the KIM JONG SUK textile mill do not need to travel into work paying high fares. It really is a workers' paradise .
                              

  I asked about working conditions  and was told that workers get 2 hours of break per day ( compare this to 30 minute lunch breaks in the UK or people being made to work through their lunchbreak) . The guide also said that the state took special measures for the health of the workers. The factory had its own kindergarten and creche plus a sports hall, house of culture (including a cinema) , a restaurant and a sports court . We were shown a fishpond where people could just sit and relax quietly during their break . We also noticed workers planting trees and gardening in the factory compound . Despite being a working factory it was spotlessly clean and the surroundings were quite pleasant . 
                     

  At both factories , the Pyongyang KIM JONG SUK textile mill and the Ryuwon Footwear factory , the workers seemed to be working with ease. There was no sign of the workers being pushed around or bullied by supervisors.Workers in the DPRK belong to trade unions which take an active part in encouraging workers to participate in production . Constitutionally in the DPRK people have the right to work and the duty to work . There are no zero hours contracts ,people have permanent jobs with holidays and sick pay. Wage differentials exist but a low. These exist to reflect different levels of skill and experience.
  Visiting the Pyongyang KIM JONG SUK textile mill and Rywuon Footwear factory I became ever more convinced that Juche -socialism is the best and that Pyongyang is a model socialist city.

Dr Dermot Hudson
Chairman Juche Idea Study Group of England
Official Delegate Korean Friendship Association for UK KFA
Chairman UK KFA 
President Association for the Study of Songun Politics UK