October 17th, 2026, marks the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Down With Imperialism Union, which was the forerunner of the Glorious Workers' Party of Korea. The founding of the DIU by Kim IL Sung (Kim Song Ju) and his comrades marked a new chapter in the history of the Korean revolution. We must see the establishment of the DIU within the context of developments in Korea and internationally at that time, in the 1920s. The victory of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia had led to the spread of Marxism-Leninism around the world, including Korea. Since 1910, Korea had been annexed by the Japanese Empire and the very existence of the Korean nation was at stake. Korean nationalism, which had carried anti-imperialist, anti-feudal tinges, was beset by the limitations of its bourgeois nature. The nationalist leaders sought to appeal to the major powers such as the USA, Great Britain, and France for assistance in seeking freedom from Japanese domination. Among the Korean nationalist leadership, had naively believed that Woodrow Wilson's (28th US President, 1913-1921) 14 Points would restore Korea's sovereignty with the aid of the League of Nations. Some of the leaders of the Korean bourgeois nationalist movement who settled in Shanghai degenerated into puppets of imperialism, the most infamous case being Syngman Rhee. A mass uprising against Japanese colonialism occurred throughout Korea on March 1st, 1919. The uprising lasted 10 months, showed that the patriotic spirit of the Korean people was still strong and resistance continued against the Japanese colonizers long after the suppression of the rebellion. The March 1st, 1919 uprising also exposed the weakness of bourgeois nationalism.
In April, 1925, the Communist Party of Korea was founded. Progressive activists secretly translated and printed the Marxist-Leninist classics into Korean in defiance of the Japanese Imperialists. In the early 1920s, class consciousness was emerging among the nascent working class in Korea with the setting up of the Workers' Mutual Aid Society (a proto-trade union). Between 1920 and 1925, there were over 330 workers' strikes in the industrial centres of Korea. The Korean Communist Movement was conducted by intellectuals who failed to conduct activities among the working masses. The early incarnation of the Korean Communist Movement was bedeviled with sectarianism in forms such as "The Tuesday Group", "The M.L.Group", "Seoul Group, amongst many others. There were even several preparatory committees for the establishment of a Communist Party in Korea by these factions. Dogmatism and flunkeyism were apparent in the early Korean Communist Movement, which was seeking advice from the Comintern (the Communist International, 1919-1943) for every question in the struggle for national and class liberation. Sectarianism and dogmatism led to the party (K.C.P.) being dissolved in 1928; Korean Communists were left without a vanguard party.
The Korean National Association, led by Kim Hyong Jik (1894-1926), who was the father of Kim IL Sung, took a Marxist-Leninist position away from the confines of narrow nationalism, building on the anti-imperialist traditions of the KNA. Having been formed in March, 1917, the KNA had become the vanguard of the Korean national liberation movement, symbolized by the slogan "Chiwon (Aim High), in other words, to rely on the popular masses for victory in the revolution. Taking a critical view of nationalism and the early Korean Communist Movement, Kim IL Sung formulated an innovative ideological framework on the issues confronting the revolutionaries in Korea, based on the realities prevailing at the time. Kim IL Sung came to the conclusion that the movement to gain the social and national emancipation of the Korean people was through a clean break with the limitations of bourgeois nationalism and with the sectarianism of the early communist movement. That is, to build up a new communist movement with militants from the young generation
Kim IL Sung and his trusted comrades formed the Down-With-Imperialism Union on October 17th, 1926. A large core of the recruits to the DIU came from the Hwasong Uisuk School, in Huadian, China, consisting of Korean exiles. The ideological and political programme was laid out in Kim Il-sung's inaugural speech to the DIU entitled "Let Us Overthrow Imperialism" (Kim IL Sung Complete Works Volume 1). This was the first-ever recorded speech by the Great Leader Comrade Kim IL Sung. The DIU set out as its immediate aim to defeat Japanese Imperialism and liberate Korea, to have a People's Democratic Revolution against colonialism and feudalism. While defining the ultimate objective to construct socialism in Korea, and to smash imperialism and achieve communism on a global basis. The foundation of the DIU constituted an historic declaration of a new and decisive period in the Korean Revolution. Rightfully, the DIU is considered the precursor of the Workers' Party of Korea, in which the foundations of building a Juche-oriented party arose. Kim Jong IL in his seminal work of October 17th, 1982, "The WPK Is A Juche Type Revolutionary Party Which Inherited The Glorious Tradition of the DIU", analysed the ideological and historical roots of the WPK in the creation of the DIU in 1926 and how a Juche-type approach to party construction was established by the DIU. From when the DIU was established, independence, creativity and consciousness became the watchwords of the Korean Revolution, with organisational unity being the key factor. Having deep connections with the popular masses in every possible sense was how the Korean Revolutionaries conducted their activities after 1926. In the following decades, the 1930s and 1940s, the Korean national liberation struggle entered a new era of momentous developments with the formation of the Korean Revolutionary Army and the AIJPGA, and the formation of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland in May 1936. The party organisations were essentially built up from the grassroots upwards. To have a fair idea of what conditions were like at the time of the founding of the DIU, I can recommend reading Vol 1 of "Reminiscences: With The Century" by Kim IL Sung.
Although circumstances in 1920s Korea were different from realities here in 21st-century Britain, there are many parallels between the tasks faced by Korean Communists in the 1920s and British Socialists in the 2020s. One issue is the spread of factionalism and dogmatism in our movements, and of course, the continuing influence of modern revisionism. We have, on the one hand, so-called broad "Left" parties consisting of a petty bourgeois basis and ideology, and on the other, purist sects that carry on the same old dogma regardless of changed conditions. Both these approaches to socio-political questions are equally counter-productive, and these parties and groups have no or very little influence or connections with the working masses in our country. To advance the cause of socialism, we should seek out novel and innovative ways to construct a movement among the broad mass of working people, in the spirit of the pioneers of the DIU did a century ago.
The 100 years since the foundation of the DIU have seen the WPK become a mighty monolithic party based on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. With the decisions of the 9th Congress of the WPK and led by Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, the DPRK is being transformed into a prosperous country, pushing frontiers of social progress forward. The formation of the Workers' Party of Korea by the Great Leader President Kim Il-sung signified the beginning of the age of Juche, marking a new chapter in the history of the Korean Revolution!
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