Kim Jong Il emphasizes ideology
DPRK leader's views on socialist construction
By Deirdre
Griswold
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has withstood over
50 years of unrelenting military hostility from U.S.
imperialism, including a war that killed some three million of
its people. Over the last decade, it made the transition to a
new leadership under arduous economic conditions caused by
natural disasters and the collapse of the socialist bloc led by
the Soviet Union.
With all this, the North Korean leaders have held firmly to
the socialist course and have rallied the people to defend
their independence and sovereignty.
What has made all this possible? In a pamphlet entitled
"Giving Priority to Ideological Work Is Essential for
Accomplishing Socialism," published in 1995 by the Foreign
Language Publishing House in Pyongyang, the present leader, Kim
Jong Il, explains the views of the Korean leadership. Anyone
wanting to understand the amazing resiliency of this besieged
nation should read this pamphlet.
Here are some excerpts from Kim's work.
On the importance of ideological work:
"For a working-class party, which struggles for the masses'
independence, no undertaking is more important than ideological
work. The working-class party is by nature a leading political
organization which awakens the popular masses on the strength
of ideology, and which organizes them for the revolution and
construction. Ideology is the only and the most powerful weapon
of the working-class party. Only when it holds fast to ideology
as the main factor and does ideological work before all other
work can the working-class party fulfill its mission and duty
as the leading political organization which sets the pace for
the masses' independence.
"Without ideological work, it would be impossible for
socialism to emerge, exist and develop. Capitalism, an
exploiting system which replaced feudal subordination with
subordination by capital, grew up within the framework of
feudal society; but socialism, a new system, radically
different from all the exploiting systems, cannot grow up
within the framework of capitalist society. Socialist ideology
emerges as a reflection of the class demand of the exploited
working masses who fight against domination by capital. The
socialist system is born of the struggle of the popular masses
who are awakened to socialist ideology."
On economic relations:
"Socialist economic relations are the economic, material
basis of socialist ideology. Socialist economic relations,
whose major component is socialist ownership, provide the
popular masses with material conditions for them to acquire and
consolidate socialist ideology. Therefore, the consolidation
and development of socialist economic relations have a major
effect on equipping the popular masses with socialist ideology.
The socio-economic basis for the emergence of outmoded ideas
disappears with the establishment of the socialist system.
"However, ideological, technological and cultural
backwardness handed down from the old society and various other
related vestiges remain for a historical period. These serve as
a hotbed for the growth of non-socialist ideological elements.
To solidly arm all members of socialist society with socialist
ideology, we must preserve socialist ownership. We must
steadily consolidate and develop socialist economic relations,
and gradually overcome the vestiges of the old society which
remain in socio-economic relations and many other areas of
social life.
"If remnants of old society in socialist society are
encouraged to grow, or capitalist economic management methods
are introduced into socialist economic management, or worse
still, if capitalist ownership is revived by encroaching upon
socialist ownership, this will result in the economic, material
basis of socialist ideology being pulled down, and conditions
created for the growth of individualism, selfishness and other
bourgeois ideas. Private ownership inevitably gives birth to
individualism and bourgeois ideas inevitably grow and spread on
the soil of capitalist ownership and the capitalist market
economy. Socialism is incompatible with private ownership and
the capitalist market economy."
On bourgeois ideology:
"In any society, the ruling class tries to bring about the
unchallenged predominance of its own ideology. In capitalist
society, where the society is split into classes and people's
interests conflict, one ideology cannot hold undivided sway and
it is inevitable that different ideas exist. The imperialists
and their mouthpieces claim the existence of these ideas is a
source of pride for the 'free world.' However, progressive
ideas can never develop freely in capitalist society, where the
means of propaganda and education such as the mass media are in
the hands of monopoly capitalists and reactionary rulers. The
reactionary bourgeois ruling class tolerates progressive ideas
to some extent, to make capitalist society seem democratic; but
when they are considered the slightest threat to its ruling
system, it mercilessly suppresses them....
"Imperialists and renegade socialists abuse the ideological
education carried out in socialist society as 'regimentation'
and 'ideological indoctrination.' This is an absurd fabrication
which throws mud at socialism. It is a falsehood aimed at
justifying the deceptive and reactionary nature of bourgeois
propaganda.
"Socialist ideology develops the masses into independent
people who are conscious of their independence and creative
ability, while reactionary bourgeois ideas reduce them to
servants who obey the domination of capital. ..."
On bureaucracy:
"[W]e must intensify the struggle against abuse of power and
bureaucracy, corruption and irregularities among cadres. These
evils are products of an exploitative society; they are rooted
in individualism and selfishness. In socialist society, they
cannot be tolerated. In socialist society, a cadre is not a
bureaucrat lording it over people but their servant. If abuses
of power and bureaucracy, corruption and irregularities are
allowed to spread among cadres, this will crack the unity and
cohesion of the party and popular masses, and prevent socialism
from displaying its vitality."
On revisionism:
"Revisionism is a counter-revolutionary, opportunist
ideological trend which emasculates socialism's revolutionary
principles. The greatest harm of revisionism is that it denies
the position and role of the party and leader in the revolution
and construction; it weakens the role of socialist power,
creates illusions about capitalism and disarms people
ideologically. In the long run, revisionism abandons socialism
and leads to capitalism."
This article is copyright under a Creative
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