The struggle for the independence in Northern Europe requires common ideology
The Korean question is very relevant today. There are not so many socialist countries any more in the world. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has become a strong socialist state that fully reflects the will of the people, under leadership of President Kim Il Sung, Secretary-General Kim Jong Il and Chairman Kim Jong Un and Workers Party of Korea.
But the way has not been easy.
The Korean people were subjected to the brutal Japanese occupation regime for decades in the early 1900s. The Korean people united under leadership of President Kim Il Sung to liberate the country. Korea liberated from the Japanese occupation and started to develop according to the own starting point of Korean people by solving Juche idea founded by President Kim Il Sung. It was obvious that independence depends on socialist ownership. This became to clear guideline for developing the country.
The imperialists did not accept founding a strong socialist state to Northeast Asia but started a war to destroy the Korean socialist system. Under leadership of President Kim Il Sung and the Workers’ Party of Korea, the imperialists were beaten.
Defeat of imperialists could not be possible without the unity of the people of Korea. The Korean people want to decide on their destiny themselves. The liberation from Japanese imperialism and the transition to socialism in a short time allowed enormous development. Unfortunately, the imperialists succeeded to divide Korean peninsula for two part. This was against the unanimous will of the Korean people.
After the Korean War the country was in ruins. Under the leadership of Workers Party of Korea reconstruction was carried out unprecedented fast. People’s living standards was improved, and many major social reforms were made. These include free training, free healthcare and tax exemption.
This was done based on Juche idea developed by President Kim Il Sung. Juche idea perfectly reflected the will of the people and therefore exceptionally fast development was possible. Achieved progress was the unanimous will of the whole people.
In the 1990s the socialism of Eastern Europe collapsed. The DPRK encountered unprecedented difficulties when socialist markets collapsed, and serious natural disasters were presented. At the same time, the pressure of imperialists against the DPRK grew even further.
General Secretary Kim Jong Il developed the Juche idea based Songun policy, which responded to the growing pressure from the imperialists. By Songun policy, the independence of DPRK was further strengthened.
What is behind of the success on DPRK
I would like to highlight some of points behind the success on DPRK.
(1) First of all is Juche idea and its continuous development. Baseline of Juche idea is that socialism is developed from their own perspective and own conditions. The revolution cannot be imported but must be done based on national characteristics. The theory and practice of socialism have been developed in DPRK continuously, taking into account the changing operational environment. Songun policy developed by Secretary General Kim Jong Il is a good example of that. It is impossible to build socialism which reflects the will of the people if the party persists in dogmatism. These mistakes were done in Eastern European socialist countries.
General Secretary Kim Jong Il writes:
” On the basis of its deep analysis of the development of the times and the changed social and class relations, our Party put forward, for the first time in the history of the revolutionary movement, the idea of “precedence of the army over the working class,”
This continuous development of Juche idea done by Leaders is a major factor for winning history of the Workers Party of Korea. The revolution has always been full supported by people.
(2) Secondly, I would like to mention the importance of strong leaders. President Kim Il Sung personally led the Korean people fight against the Japanese imperialists as well as the struggle against the American imperialists during the Korean War. Further, he led the reconstruction work and established a socialist system on the Korean peninsula.
Secretary-General Kim Jong Il led the DPRK during a difficult time, but with a meritorious theoretical and practical work, DPRK triumphed over the difficult times in the 1990s.
Now Chairman Kim Jong Un has developed independence to the qualitative new level. The nuclear weapon of DPRK has forced imperialists to negotiation table. An example of this is the meetings of Chairman Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.
(3) Thirdly, the Korean revolution has put effort ideological work. A major cause of the collapse of socialism was that the Soviet Union and other Eastern European socialist countries were not invested in the ideological knowledge of ordinary People. The scientific laws of dialectical and historical materialism are not understood enough out of scientific institutes.
General Secretary Kim Jong Il writes:
“The preceding theories based on the materialistic conception of history considered that the revolution is completed once the working class seizes power and establishes socialist relations of production. For this reason, they failed to make a correct clarification of the law-governed course of socialist construction subsequent to victory in revolution; in particular, they failed to raise the issue of remolding man, the ideological revolution, in a socialist society.”
What can we learn from the Korean socialism?
We live today an era of globalization. We are living in the period of revival of imperialistic capitalism. Because of the victory of the Soviet Union in II World War, and thus arising the powerful, socialism relied labor movement, imperialism was temporarily recession. After the collapse of socialism Eastern Europe, imperialism has again strengthened – has been moved to era of globalization.
Characteristic to this time is on other hand the increasing crisis between the productive forces and production relations, changes in working-class and the emphasis on individualism. There is no class consciousness in Northern Europe.
Because of financialization the crisis of capitalism has worsened over the years. At the same time the working people in developed countries is tied to the capitalist economic system by mortgage loans and consumption credits. They have to do more and more work hours to cope with their debts. In addition, the capitalists are investing continuously in any other way to blur class consciousness.
Secretary General Kim Jong Il writes:
” Moreover, the development of capitalism consolidates the domination of monopoly capital and adds to the prevalence of reactionary bourgeois ideology and culture, which greatly acts to control the class consciousness, awakening and revolutionary assimilation of the working class.”
We are living in the time of individualism. General Secretary Kim Jong Il writes:
“Individualism is the product of private ownership. Society, based on private ownership and its product, individualism, inevitably splits into hostile classes, produces class antagonism and social inequality, and is accompanied by the exploitation and oppression of the popular masses by a small ruling class.”
The world may be changing. Global capitalism is the case of productive forces and production relations in the point that any of the next financial crisis may be so total that the solution to the crisis cannot be found from capitalism itself but must move to a socialist path.
Therefore, we must put major effort to the awaking the class consciousness of working class and to the development of strategy and tactics of socialism.
Kim Jong Il writes:
”The working class of the present times cannot be identified with the working class in the period of industrial capitalism or proletarian revolution, in the fight of either the situation of the times or the actual reality of the labor, social status and labor movement of the working class. The changed situation and the reality require a new ideology and theory, strategy and tactics with which to awaken and rally the broad sections of the masses who oppose the domination of monopoly capital and the aggression and war policy of imperialism ”
Juha Kieksi, chairman of The Society for the Study of Juche Idea Finland
Svenska gruppen för Juchestudier 