by New Worker correspondent
 |
| Leslie Larkum and Michael Chant |
Comrades from several different organisations came together last Saturday in South London to
celebrate the formation of the Workers Party of Korea on October 10th at a social organised by the Friends
of Korea.
Youg Ho Thae, minister at the DPRK embassy, explained the
history of the formation of the Workers
Party of Korea, which was directly descended from the Down With
Imperialism Union by the young, patriotic student leader Kim Il Sung in October
1926.
During the anti-Japanese war there was a communist party cell
in each guerrilla unit. It was only practically possible to establish the
Communist Party of North Korea after the North was liberated in 1945.
After
the defeat of the Japanese in 1945 country Kim il Sung raised the
question of forming a unified communist movement, and following the
foundation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in September
1948 the communist parties of
north and south came together to form the Workers Party of Korea on October 10 that
year.
Comrade Thae pointed out that “since World War 2 the country which
had used chemical weapons more than any other is the US, which has the largest
stockpile of these weapons in the world. Even now, tens of thousands of
children are being born in Vietnam with terrible deformities”.
He added that the deadline for the US to eliminate these
weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention was this year, “but now
Washington has said this would not be possible for another 10 or 12 years”.
Speaking on behalf of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (ML), Michael Chant told the
meeting that the Korean communists led
by Kim Il Sung had worked to solve the problems faced by the Korean people step
by step, and made the people the decision-makers.
The formation of
the Workers Party of Korea by Kim Il Sung as the mass party of the Korean people,
he said, “has enabled the people to unite with one will to develop the country”.
Dermot Hudson of the Korean Friendship Association recalled that the song
used as the anthem of the Korean People’s Army, the Red Flag, was written by a British
socialist, and that as a song identified with the DPRK it is still illegal to
sing it in south Korea.
He said “the Workers Party of Korea is surging forward under the banner
of Songun leadership of dear respected leaders Kim Jong Il”, with new housing and
leisure facilities and long-range rockets”.
The Workers Party of Korea is continuing the struggles against
dogmatism, factionalism, revisionism and “raising the banner of socialism high
in Korea and in Asia”, he said.
Bringing greetings from the NCP, Theo Russell said 10th October was an important
day for communists the world over, when “a new party of the toiling masses was
formed on Korean soil, the Workers Party of Korea”.
He said the party had made unique contributions to the international movement:
the Juche idea which had unleashed the enormous creative energy of the masses, and
the concept of self-reliance and the Songun army first policy, which are
admired by small nations around the world attempting to resist imperialist
bullying and diktat.
The meeting was followed by music provided by Michael Chant and Lesley Larkum,
who performed Let us love our motherland, Arirang, and the national anthem
of the DPRK on the violin and keyboard.
