1. Lately I have read an article about Songbun Policy (not Songun but Songbun 성분). In the western media it is of course mentioned quite negatively, but to me it seems as an effective Anti-Revisionist Tool. Could you maybe explain this policy?
Answer ;The so-called ‘ Songbun policy ‘ or ‘Songbun ‘ is a creation of anti-DPRK propaganda -ists to slander the socialist system of the DPRK to spread misinformation , to create a false idea that there is a caste system in the DPRK , that there is some kind of elite in the DPRK.
The idea that there is some kind of rigid hierarchy or caste system in the DPRK is actually one of the main planks of the anti-DPRK human rights offensive . This kind of propaganda goes beyond the usual nonsense about everyone ‘starving to death’ and state-approved hairstyles.
In actual fact the word ‘Songbun ‘ does not appear in any of the works of President KIM IL SUNG . Chairman KIM JONG IL or respected Marshal KIM JONG UN.
I wrote an article a few years ago refuting the allegations of a secret caste system in the DPRK
Anglo-People's Korea/Songun: Refutation of the false theory of a 'caste ' system in the DPRK,the so-called "Songbun" theory by ASSPUK, JISGE and UK KFA (juche007-anglo-peopleskoreafriendship.blogspot.com)
As a matter of fact the great leaders President KIM IL SUNG and Chairman KIM JONG IL strongly argued against such an approach. Chairman KIM JONG IL said “We must rally the broad masses of the people around the Party. Therefore, the Party officials must always mix with the people and shower the Party's trust and love upon them. They should frequently meet those with complicated pasts, to say nothing of the basic sections of the masses of the people. Mingling with them at work, they should heal their sores, treating them kindly and winning them over in a broad-minded manner, so that they come to open their hearts. This is precisely the process of bringing the Party's trust and love home to them, a process of the Party winning them over. It is only when the Party showers its trust and love upon the people that they will remain loyal and sincere to it. "Let's build a new society with trust and love," this is my invariable motto."
The policy of evaluating people on the basis of family background would have been wrong and would have made it impossible to achieve single-hearted unity . Particularly after the Fatherland Liberation War the structure of the population of the DPRK was complex; there were some people who had family members who been tricked into going to south Korea by false propaganda , there were also those who had participated in the ‘peace maintenance corps’ of the US imperialists but there was the question of whether they willingly participated or whether they were coerced into it and lastly there were also some south Koreans who had changed sides and had come over to the DPRK .A simplistic and rigid approach would not have worked. Moreover, people’s ideology is not something unchangeable .Some people from worker or peasant backgrounds can become corrupted even in a socialist society.
The DPRK carries out the line of class struggle and mass struggle , combining the class line and mass line . A struggle is carried out against anti-socialist and non-socialist ideas . However this is done by evaluating the ideological level of a person rather than simply saying ‘oh his grandad was a steel worker ‘ or ‘her great uncle was in the anti-Japanese armed struggle so they must be alright ‘
2. A few months ago we heard that in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea a law for protecting Korean Language and Culture was enforced, but we couldn't find any details. Do you know the details of this law and do you think the establishment of such a law should be part of the program of other communist parties in order to fight Cultural Imperialism?
I believe that you are referring to the’ DPRK law on rejecting reactionary ideology and culture’ that was adopted by the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK on the 4th of December 2020 . The law on rejecting the reactionary ideology and culture specifies the principles to be firmly implemented by all the institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens in further cementing the DPRK’s ideological, revolutionary and class positions by thoroughly preventing the inroads and spread of the anti-socialist ideology and culture and firmly maintaining the DPRK’s idea, spirit and culture. I do not have further details.
The law was adopted as part of an ongoing campaign in the DPRK against the anti-socialist and non-socialist ideas and culture. Marshal KIM JONG UNhimself said “ "Establishing socialist lifestyle and morality is a serious political struggle and an acute class struggle to defend and glorify our idea and social system” and the 5th Plenary meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea held in January 2020 adopted a resolution which included the following ' we will intensify the struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist deeds and tighten moral discipline, and the working people's organizations will scrupulously carry out the ideological education.'
It is worth noting that as far back as the 1980s President KIM IL SUNG and Chairman KIM JONG IL put forward the idea of the mosquito net to prevent the infiltration of imperialist culture and ideology . President KIM IL SUNG said “ Careless opening may allow mosquitoes and blowflies to fly in and cause damage. We must conduct exchanges and joint ventures with other countries, but we must pitch mosquito nets to prevent those insects from infiltrating” and Chairman KIM JONG IL said “intensifying ideological education among party members and other working people can be likened to casting a mosquito net adding that ‘the deeper into the quagmire of the policies of reform and perestroika and the more malignantly the imperialists throw mud at socialism the more aggressively we should conduct ideological education among Party members and the other working to build up a strong defensive position for preventing any of the alien ideological elements including revisionism and bourgeois ideology ,from penetrating our ranks “
In 1999 the DPRK media carried the famous article "Let us reject imperialist ideological and cultural poisoning” which stated among other things,that “The former Soviet Union and east European socialist countries collapsed not because their military and economic potentials were weak and the level of their cultural development was low. It was entirely because they opened the door wide for the imperialist ideological and cultural poisoning. Corrupt ideas spread by the imperialists are more dangerous than atomic bombs for the countries in the process of socialist construction.”
Anglo-People's Korea/Songun: Combating imperialist ideological and cultural poisoning called for-1999 article from KCNA (juche007-anglo-peopleskoreafriendship.blogspot.com)
I think that the policy of rejecting reactionary ideology should be part of the programme of every communist party and socialist country.
I would remind people of the words of CIA director Allen Dulles(or that were attributed to him ) “We shall arm comedians with jokes that laugh out their present and future.Poison the soul of the youth with disbelief in their purpose in life, awaken their interest in sexual problems, bait them with such lures of the free world as fancy dances, pretty clothing, special records, verses, songs. Sow discord between the youth and the older generation”
The revisionist led socialist countries such as the USSR and the East European countries failed to take measures against the infiltration of imperialist ideology and culture . They allowed themselves to become Americanised and Westernized . Visiting Hungary in 1988 and 1989 I found that the people were into the most rubbishy aspects of bourgeois imperialist pop culture such as Madonna and Rambo. I can remember Hungarians even praising Margaret Thatcher ! This led to the crumbling of socialism in these countries and the eventual frustration of socialism . I would add that when I travelled through China on the way to the DPRK one of the first things I saw at the airport was a McDonalds and a KFC ,also McDonalds and KFC have been built near Tiananmen Square where the revolutionary monuments of the Chinese people are.
The measures taken by the DPRK against the infiltration of imperialist ideology and culture are not only part of the drive to defend socialism but also to defend the independence of the DPRK from globalisation . The imperialists aim at a unipolar world in which national cultures would be destroyed and would be replaced by a ‘world culture ‘
3. The last question I asked to one of the delegates from the Anti Imperialist Front in South Korea at the last Communism Congress in Berlin, but out of security reasons he was not able to answer the question. I asked him to what extent KimIlSungism-KimJongIlism has to be considered a universal philosophy that can be applied to the communist movement worldwide. (As far as I am concerned KimIlSungism-KimJongIlism is the greatest philosophy in the history of human thought and not a mere application of Marxism-Leninism to Korea. Therefore it would be vital to propagate it in the communist movement.
I agree that Kimilsungism -Kimjongilism should be promoted within the communist movement . The core principles of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism are the idea of independence and the people-first idea . All communist parties can and should be independent in their activities and should have people-first policies.In fact I would say that if a communist party does not have people-first policies then it is pretty useless as a communist party !
Indeed Juche is not simply “ Marxism-Leninism applied to Korea “ as many new problems came up in the course of the revolution and construction in Korea for which solutions could be not found in the classics of Marxism -Leninism so the DPRK had to go beyond Marxism Leninism.
In People's Korea socialism had to be built through not only struggle against imperialism and class enemies but against a hidden internal enemy , dogmatists and factionalists . These people would argue against different policies of the Workers Party of Korea either saying that such and such policy was not in the classics of Marxism -Leninism or that it had not been done in a big country . Such elements claimed to be pure Marxists , purer than pure but in fact their approach was actually extremely reactionary and counter-revolutionary , for example opposing collectivisation . Ironically these arguments that were shattered decades ago in People's Korea still echo among some on the Left today.
Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN defined Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism as follows “ an integral system of the idea, theory and method of Juche, and a great revolutionary ideology representative of the Juche era. Guided by Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, we should conduct Party building and Party activities, so as to sustain the revolutionary character of our Party and advance the revolution and construction in line with the ideas and intentions of the President and the General.”
The Juche-oriented theory of revolution also teaches us that the main factor in the revolution is the independence of the popular masses. When the independence of the popular masses is trampled on, revolution breaks out. It is the popular masses that are the driving force of the revolution.
Today the revolution is carried out independently in each country according to the will of the people in each individual country. There is no need for an "international centre " to guide the revolution in each country. This is what Juche teaches us. Moreover the revolution cannot be advanced and socialism defended simply by repeating ideas and theories from the past classics which stressed the material and economic factor. Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism is the great revolutionary idea of the era as it stresses that the popular masses are the subject of the revolution, the masters of the revolution . To reiterate the Juche-oriented theory of revolution sees the outbreak of revolution not being caused by material-economic contradictions(these can be very severe indeed as in the case of the developed capitalist countries but still no revolution) but by the infringement of the independence of the popular masses and their consciousness of being the masters of the revolution.
Songun politics is an integral part of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. It was the great leader President KIM IL SUNG who first put forward the concept of Songun at the historic Kalun meeting of June 1930 where he elaborated that Korea's independence could be achieved only by force of arms. The Songun idea and Songun politics were later developed in depth and applied by the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL. The essence of Songun can be summed up in a nutshell ; the revolution is advanced and defended by arms. As the great and dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN said " Songun means our independence, dignity and lifeblood”
History does not know of any reactionary ruling class that has peacefully handed over power to the exploited class. Some revisionists tried to advocate a " peaceful road " to socialism but this proved to be an abject and abysmal failure. In some countries attempts to advance peacefully towards socialism come to zero and in Chile the Allende government which tried to effect a peaceful transition to socialism only to be murderously overthrown by the imperialists and local reactionaries. Thus Songun fully accord with the experience of the world revolutionary movement.
Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism shines brightly as the guiding idea for the world revolution as it gives correct answers to the questions of our times.
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