The Juche idea – the guiding idea of world revolution. Speech delivered at the seminar on the Juche idea organised by Mosquito Press in London. 23 March 1985.

 

Comrades,

On behalf of Mosquito Press and the Organising Committee for the Seminar on the Juche Idea established by it, I once again express my deep thanks to all those comrades who have honoured us by their presence today.

The comrades who have attended our Seminar today, and those who, for one reason or another, have been unable to attend but who have in various ways expressed to greetings and support, can, without exaggeration, be said to represent the five continents of the world. And for the most part, we are talking about comrades on the front line of the struggle against world imperialism led by US imperialism.

That our Seminar should evoke such a positive response from the world’s revolutionary forces is above all a tribute to the growing authority of the Juche Idea, and its creator, the great leader Kim Il Sung.

It is clear that, increasingly, the Juche Idea is becoming established as the guiding idea of world revolution in the present epoque. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to visit Pyongyang, the capital city of revolution, will well know how the flaming torch atop of the tower of the Juche Idea illumines the night sky of the city. Similarly, it is with lessons learnt in blood that the revolutionary peoples of the world come to know that the road to victory lies through casting away old ideas, and firmly rejecting dogmatism and flunkeyism, and grasping the future of the revolution in their own hands.

As the dear leader Comrade, Kim Jong il points out, “the masses of the people are the masters of revolution and construction and the decisive factor in transforming nature and developing society.… It is the masses that want the revolution and construction, and it is also the masses that carry them out.” The revolutionary ideas of the working class and oppressed peoples are created by great and outstanding leaders of the people. As the dear leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said, “the revolutionary ideas of the working-class are originated by distinguished leaders… Our leader created the great Juche Idea after acquiring a deep insight into the requirements of a new era when the oppressed and humiliated masses of the people became masters of their own destiny. That he developed their struggle for Chajusong onto a higher plane opened up the age of Juche, a new era in the development of human history.” [Check.] For all communists and revolutionaries, it is an axiom that, wherever there is oppression, there is resistance.

This in fact flows from the nature of man as a social being with creativity, consciousness and Chajusong. As the dear leader Comrade Kim Jong Il has explained, “it is natural that man who regards Chajusong as his life and soul combats any encroachment on his Chajusong. “ From the slave revolts of Spartacus, against the might of the Roman emperor to the recent year-long strike by the miners in this country, we can see the implacable refusal of oppressed people to accept slavery and the violation of their dignity and their courageous struggle to assert themselves as masters of the world.

However, history also teaches that, however often and however heroically the masses rise in struggle, their resistance will not end in victory unless they have correct leadership.

As dear Comrade, Kim Jong Il pointed out: “If they are to hold their position and fulfil their role… The popular masses must be brought into contact with leadership.” It is therefore to the undying credit of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung that, whilst still in his early years, he created the Juche Idea.

This idea clear to wait. ?? The factional fog spread in the Korean revolutionary movement by bigoted, no ?? nationalist and bogus Marxists and in the teeth of enormously complex conditions led the Korean revolution to achieve victory.

Now the Juche Idea has spread to all corners of the globe and Juche Idea study groups have been established in nearly every country of the world.

I am pleased to take this occasion to announce that the preparations undertaken by Mosquito Press to found such a study group in this country are now at an advanced stage, and that 1985 is the year when this great idea will at last be systematically studied and applied here.

Of course, a correct guiding idea can only be created in accordance with the developing conditions and demands of the era.

It therefore follows that the Juche Idea accords with the present stage and tasks of the world revolution, and provides correct answers to the problems posed in the revolutionary struggle.

As the dear leader, Comrade, Kim Jong il makes clear: “when the leader embarked on the road of revolution, a new development was taking place in the struggle of the working class and the popular masses against exploitation and oppression. On the world arena, the influence of socialism, which had won its first victory, grew strong, and the revolutionary struggle of the working class, and the liberation struggle of the people in colonies and semi colonies, were intensified sharply. In an attempt to stop the revolutionary advance of the masses, and whether the serious, political and economic crisis they were passing through, the imperialists further increased their plunder and oppression of the people.

In many countries, contradictions and antagonism between revolution, and counterrevolution were intensified, and the masses of the people whose sovereign rights had been trampled down for a long time rows up in a struggle for their class and national liberation.

A new age was approaching, in which the revolutionary movement made progress in abroad and diversified weight on the world worlds worldwide scale.” Following the victory of the great October, socialist revolution, it rapidly became clear that the focus of world revolution was shifting to the oppressed nations, particularly those in Asia, and it is therefore, not surprising neither is it coincidental, that the leading development in revolutionary ideology should be made by a nation Communist leader.

The principles and policies put forward by the Juche Idea are fully relevant and applicable to our tasks here. One of the most essential – and in many respects, one that determines the approach to other questions – concerns, the Juche based stand, viewpoint, and method of work with people.

The dear leader, Comrade, Kim Jong il has pointed out:

“When they are armed with the revolutionary idea and united into an organised political force, the masses can emerge victorious in the revolution. The duty of revolutionaries is to go among the popular masses, Masters of the revolution, to educate, organise and inspire them to a struggle. The Revolutionary forces, too, should be trained from among the masses, and Oprah problems arising in the revolutionary struggle, should likewise be resolved in reliance on their wisdom and strength.”

This exposition of the revolutionary work method can clearly be seen to be, in contrast to the opportunist, bureaucratic, functional and sectarian methods adopted in the main by the London-based left groups, as well as the labour and trade union movement. Like their counterparts in Korea in the early part of the century, they can be described as being “divorced from the masses…. Only engrossed in the scramble for hegemony and empty talks. They did not unite the masses, but divided them by factional strife.” The endless splits and factional strife that characterise the British left, do nothing to inspire the masses to fight to end their oppression; in fact, all that they succeed in doing is disorienting and disillusioning, the many sincere people who gravitate towards them, and generally discrediting the idea of socialism among the people.

In contrast, a dynamic struggle can only be waged by relying on and organising the people themselves. This can be clearly seen in the case of the miners’ strike.

Of course, nearly all the left-wing forces involved themselves with this epic struggle to a greater or lesser extent. But their reasons for doing so, the ways in which they intervened, and the conclusions drawn from the struggle differ widely.

There are some who see the miners’ struggle as confirming the correctness of an orientation to the established labour and trade union movement and its traditional methods. However, the miners’ strike confirmed exactly the opposite.

The reason for its endurance, militancy and heroism lies in the fact that the miners and their leadership, to a considerable extent, turned their backs on factional and bureaucratic methods of work, and relied on the creative talents of the oppressed people – of the mining communities themselves.

Fiercely confident in their own strength and the justice of their cause, the young miners – “Scargill’s Red Guards” as they were called – together with their wives and girlfriends took on the full force of the British imperialist state, and, in so doing, began to give an outline of what a workers state could mean in this country.

As comrade, Malcolm Pitt, President of the Kent National union of Mineworkers, said in a recent speech in Southall, the strike, “showed the latent power of working people”.

From the logging teams, who provided heating, to the food, distribution teams, and communal kitchens and dining halls, the importing of food, to the arranging of foreign delegations and holidays for miners and their families. We were given “signs of the abilities of working people to run society”.

Moreover, the miners turned to, and built alliances with, the real friends – rank and file workers here and overseas, the national minority communities, the Irish people, national liberation movements, national democratic states, such as Libya, the socialist countries… These forces responded with magnificent acts of solidarity, and we began to see the emergence of the type of revolutionary alliance that can defeat British imperialism.

All of this is inseparable from the fact that in the person of Arthur Scargill, and other leaders, such as Malcolm Pitt and Jack Collins, the miners had a leadership that was prepared to base its work on “educating, organising and inspiring” the people.

Without denying the importance of struggles over wages and conditions, it is highly significant that the miners’ struggle was not centred around these questions, but was a battle to defend pits, jobs and communities; it was above all a fight for human dignity and Chajusong. Lenin said that strikes are “a school for war”. In this great school we now have a body of graduates who have learned lessons on the state, ?? , on imperialism, on the need to meet counterrevolutionary violence with revolutionary violence, and the identities of real friends and real enemies. Above all, it has shown working people something of what they are capable of achieving.

Although, unfortunately, it did not end in a clear victory for the strikers, it has trained soldiers who will be in the front line of many a battle to come. It was an indispensable stage in the struggle.

In many respects, it bears a close resemblance to the struggle of the proletariat in Dublin in 1913, about which James Connolly wrote:

“Our fight of last year was not for added wages and reduction of hours, it was for an opportunity of building up in our midst men and women, a chance to develop nobility and grandeur of character for men and women, a time to realise the most nobility of life, to study the history of Ireland, to study our rights as well as our duties; time to develop men and women for the coming crisis, so that they might take advantage of it when it came.”

Another aspect of the Juche Idea of crucial importance to us is that of independence – specifically that the revolutionary organisations, particularly those created by the oppressed people themselves, must hold fast to an independent stand.

As dear Comrade, Kim Jong il, points out: “if the revolution and construction are to be carried out as required by the Juche Idea, Chajusong must be maintained and realised.” All progressive struggles against the state have had to be waged on the basis of independence. For example, throughout the miners’ strike, the strikers had to resist the straitjacket of the labour aristocracy, who, in the words of the great leader Kim Il Sung, are reared by the capitalist “to disorganise the ranks of the working-class movement”.

More particularly, the struggle finds its sharpest and most concrete expression in the struggles of nationally oppressed nations, peoples and communities. The most outstanding example is the Irish Republican Movement, which has developed into the most powerful revolutionary movement in Western Europe, precisely by tenaciously defending its own independence. By contrast, those forces in Ireland that have taken to flunkeyism, or not based their work on going deep among the Irish people, educating and organising them, have either become an irrelevance, or, as in the case of the notorious “Irish Workers’ Party” so-called, have degenerated into agents of imperialism.

The Irish Republican Movement is a genuinely revolutionary movement that epitomises and grasps the truth of the dear leader, Kim Jong Il, teaching that: “without the sense of national pride, that one’s nation is inferior to none, without the pride and honour of the revolutionary people, it would be impossible to live up to one’s conviction in an independent manner, uphold national independence and dignity and emerge victorious in the difficult revolutionary struggle. A nation with a strong sense of national dignity and revolutionary pride is unconquerable, but a nation without this attribute is powerless. The people of small countries who have long suffered oppression by foreign forces need so much the more the sense of national dignity and revolutionary pride.”

Other organisations and movements that have preserve their revolutionary integrity, deepened their links with the masses and expanded the fighting ranks, precisely by defending their independence, include the Scottish and Welsh Republicans and black organisations, such as the Indian Workers Association (GB) and the Bangladeshi Workers Association. These organisations that firmly uphold Chajusong “know the communities, their problems, revolutionary traditions, and methods of struggle far better than the British left ever can. Their existence is in marked contrast to those of some other forces that go into national nihilism, who have allowed themselves to be sucked into the “race relations industry”, or who have been made to dance to the baton of this or that British left organisation. Their sorry plight is aptly characterised by the dear leader, Kim Jong Il as follows:

“If one is inclined to be servile, one would be in the habit of grovelling before others, and following them: if others take to revisionism, one would follow suit; and if others are ?? dogmatism, one would act likewise. As the great leader said, if a person falls into flunkeyism, he would become a fool; if a nation is servile to big powers, the country would go to ruin; and if a party is subservient to big powers, it would make a mess of the revolution and construction.”

Dear Comrade Kim Jong Il has further clarified the concept of independence of the organisations of the nationally oppressed by his development of revolutionary theory on the national question, with regard to national minorities in the imperialist heartlands.

Using the example of overseas Koreans, he pointed out: “as regards our overseas brothers, they are Koreans, who come from the same stock as us, and who originally lived in the same territory, speaking the same language. They were forced to leave their beloved homesteads; either they had to go abroad to find a means of living, unable to endure Japanese imperialist colonial rule and harsh exploitation and oppression by landlords and capitalists, or they were dragged to foreign countries as compulsory drafted labour, or its conscripts. So how can one say that they are not of the Korean nation? It goes without saying that they legitimately belong to the Korean nation.”

None of the above should be confused with narrow nationalism. On the contrary, it is by upholding independence that the basis is created for genuine and consistent internationalism. As dear Comrade Kim Jong Il points out: “Chajusong is not in conflict with internationalism, but is the basis of its strengthening. Just as the world revolution is impossible without the revolution in one’s own country, internationalism divorced from Chajusong cannot exist as a matter of principle; internationalist solidarity must be based on freedom of choice and equality. Only when it is founded on Chajusong will internationalist solidarity become based on free choice and equality and become genuine and durable.”

Organisations, such as Sinn Féin, the Bangladeshi Workers Association, and the Indian Workers Association show the link between upholding their independence and internationalism with every fibre of their being and struggle. These are organisations that never fail to support other oppressed people in struggle, and the cadres concretely unite with and lead working people in their struggles, wherever they may find themselves. One important example, is the trade union work of the Indian Workers Association, which spearheaded the unionisation of the workers in the foundries of the West Midlands in the 1950s and 1960s, and has now taken up the difficult task of organising the textile workers in the small sweatshops.

It has always been the case that workers from the oppressed nationalities have played a vanguard role in the struggle of the Chartists in the struggle of the working class in this country. Of Chartist leader, Fergus O’Connor, James Connolly, commented: “he was one of the first of the long list of Irish fighters in Great Britain whose unselfish sacrifices have gone to make a record for the “English” labour movement.” He also pointed out that: “working-class Irish exiles were present and active in the ranks of militant labour out of all proportion to the ratio they bore to the population at large. And always they were the advanced, the least compromising, the most irreconcilable in the movement.”

The great Irish leaders, James Connolly and Jim Larkin, were also, of course, prominent leaders of the working-class movement in England and Scotland, and indeed in the United States of America.

The first Communist MP to sit in the House of Commons – representing Battersea North – was an Indian comrade, Shapurji Saklatvala, who made the course of Indian freedom well known in Britain.

The founder of the Indian Workers Association, Shahid Udham Singh, is a glorious revolutionary martyr of the Indian people who was hanged, after his execution in Caxton Hall of the imperialist butcher, General O’Dwyer, who is responsible for the Amritsar massacre in 1919. Defiant to the last, as he was being sentenced, he shouted slogans denouncing British imperialism, making the judges’ remarks in audible. He was also a delegate to the Camden Trades Council here in North London.

The late General Secretary of the IWA, comrade Jagmohan Joshi, tirelessly devoted his life not only to the cause of Indian workers, and to the struggle for a People’s Democratic India, but also to the cause of all workers and oppressed people.

Noel Jenkinson, the Irish patriot murdered in a British prison, was not only a committed fighter for Irish freedom, but an active trade unionist, a communist and a supporter of the Asian socialist countries.

In general, the Irish prisoners of war in English jails today provide a model of comrades who, on the basis of their own independent and strict discipline, give leadership to the democratic struggle of all prisoners, and encouragement to all the peoples’ ?? struggles, as shown by comrade Vinny Donnelly’s message to today’s seminar.

Truly, it is those who firmly uphold their independence, who are the real internationalists.

In applying the great Juche Idea to our concrete conditions, it is necessary to particularly grasp the Juche theory on the question of the youth.

Dear Comrade Kim Jong Il has pointed out: “in order to inaugurate a revolutionary party, it was necessary to break away from the old party and the old generation polluted with factionalism and flunkeyism, develop new communists of the new generation, achieve the unity of ideology and purpose of the communist ranks and strengthen their ties with the masses.” The great leader comrade Kim Il Sung formed the first genuinely communist organisation in Korean history, the Down With Imperialism Union whilst still in his early teens, and advanced the Juche idea a few years later.

It was those young communists who formed the core of the Workers Party of Korea. Today, firmly grasping the role of the youth, the Party pays particular attention to developing revolutionary successors. As a great leader comrade Kim Il Sung says: “all the ?? reports, resplendent victories and successes scored by our people in the revolution and construction, are associated with the heroic struggle and praiseworthy efforts of millions of a young men and women, and the grand monumental structures of the era of the workers party erected in various parts of the country symbolise the undying feats of our youth who have worked with all devotion for the Party and the revolution… Our Party and our people regards it as their great pleasure and pride to have such excellent young people.”

The lofty character of the Korean youth is shared by all revolutionary youth around the world.

As the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung points out: “the youth have an unflagging will, and revolutionary spirit to fight for justice through thick and thin. Because of their excellent stamina, the youth are able to be and have become a great revolutionary force in the struggle for independence against imperialism…. The youth are a fighting and advancing generation. The youth are vigorous and courageous. They should play the role of vanguard fighters in the struggle against imperialism.”

The truth of comrade Kim Il Sung’s statement can be seen in all revolutionary movements. Near to home we have above all the outstanding example of the young volunteers of the Irish Republican Army and the Irish National liberation Army, of the Irish Republican prisoners of war, and particularly the courageous hunger strikers of 1981 – young men and women who demonstrated how powerful the spirit of freedom, of Chajusong, can be when the people are organised under the correct anti-imperialist leadership.

The role of the youth, of the new generation, assumes particular importance in this, the oldest imperialist state, where the influence of social chauvinism and the labour aristocracy is so strong. In all revolutionary work, it is necessary to bring to the fore the role of the youth – whether the young miners, their wives and girlfriends; the black youth who led the uprisings of 1981 and who have organised themselves into various independent organisations, such as the Stoke Newington and Hackney Defence campaign and the Asian youth movements; the young people who have formed the core of the militant pickets of South Africa House; or the mass organisations of the anti-imperialist youth of Glasgow – the Republican Bands.

By encouraging the youth to consciously play the leading role, whilst at the same time learning from the experience of veteran comrades, all sections of the people can be encouraged to more dynamically take up the struggle for freedom and independence.

The Juche idea aims to unite the people to ?? the Revolutionary struggle. It turns its back on the factional strife, which divides the people. But whilst concentrating on the development of new revolutionary forces, this does not mean that we should turn our backs on those honest comrades who have been misled by the factionists. We should also remember that our main enemy is imperialism, and that we should unite all possible forces against it.

All oppressed, people know that their strength lies in unity.

The grave difficulties that the Palestinian people are currently facing is connected in no small part to the tragic splits in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Conversely, the Nicaraguan revolution rapidly won victory when the three wings of the Sandinista National Liberation Front reunited. The liberation movements of El Salvador and Guatemala have learned this lesson and formed themselves into a united front.

In contrast, the door was opened to the US invasion of Grenada by the split in the revolutionary party and government of that country.

In the course of the struggle, the miners saw the need to  ?? opportunity and reject sectarianism, and were able to work with a vast range of ?? sources.

On many occasions, in the course of leading the Korean revolution to victory, the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung risked his very life in order to achieve national unity, and unity with the various anti-Japanese imperious forces of the fraternal Chinese people. Today, he extends the hand of friendship to all democratic and patriotic forces in the south of divided ?? four 0, and all those forces in the world who are objectively in contradiction with imperialism, particularly US imperialism. He ?? will understand that it is only our enemies who can gain by disunity.

Therefore, without for a moment giving up their principles, or the fight against opportunism, we think it necessary for all left-wing forces to concretely look for ways in which they can unite and work together. Whether in support of the miners, the Irish people, other national liberation movements, the socialist countries, or in the anti-racist struggle, it should be possible for nearly all left-wing organisations to find some realistic common ground on which to work together without surrendering their independence or particular points of view.

For our part, learning from the policy on international relations carried out by the Workers Party of Korea, we are prepared to unite with what is positive in all other organisations, even if this is only a minor aspect, and to work together with them.

Comrades,

The Juche idea is a precious gift that the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung has given to the peoples of the world. Since his early days, he has been devoting himself to the people, and I am sure that everybody here would want to join with us in conveying to him wholehearted greetings on the occasion of his 73rd birthday, which will be celebrated in a few weeks’ time.

The experience of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, and of the international communist movement generally, shows that the question of succeeding the revolutionary cause as the leader is a complex and difficult one. We therefore share the joy of the Korean people in their having the dear leader Comrade Kim Jong il as the successor to the great leader Kim Il Sung.

Comrade Kim Jong Il has inherited all the revolutionary qualities of the great leader, and has developed and systematised his ideas, defining them as Kimilsungism.

It is therefore only natural that the Korean Party and people should unanimously a claim him as the genuine successor to the great leader. We send wholehearted and sincere greetings to the dear leader, Kim Jong Il, who is wisely leading the Korean people to advance with the “speed of the 1980s” in all fields of socialist construction, holding the great leader, Kim Il Sung, in boundless, esteem forever.

Today has been an historic occasion when the banner of the Juche idea, the banner of the age of independence, has been raised in London, the heart of the old and dying world. This is but a first step in our continuing work to hold high the banner of the new world, and to join the revolutionary struggle of the people of the world who are fighting against imperialism and for independence. I would like to thank all those, particularly those present, who have given us help and encouragement in the organising of the seminar. Special thanks must go to our Korean friends ?? in Pyongyang and in Paris who have provided us with a great deal of inspiration. Were it not for the reactionary and obdurate stand of the Thatcher government in denying visas to citizens of socialist Korea, we are sure that they would have been present with us today.

The Juche idea means solidarity with the world revolution. As a dear leader Comrade Kim Jong Il says: “All countries, all nations, and people the world over that advocate Chajusong must struggle jointly, and?? in unity, under the revolutionary banner of anti-imperialism and independence.” Today, on this occasion, I pledge on behalf of Mosquito Press, that we will always be on the same side together, with all the peoples fighting against imperialism and dominationism, particularly those fighting against British imperialism. No matter what storms may arise in the world, we will always be on the side of the brave Korean people who daily faced the nuclear war threat from US imperialism and its followers.

Long live the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung!

Long live the dear leader comrade Kim Jong Il!

Long live the immortal Juche idea!

All peace-loving people of the world who advocate Chajusong, unite to bury imperialism forever!