by
Dermot Hudson
The
highly significant 105th anniversary of the birth of the great
Korean communist leader, comrade Kim Il Sung, is a reminder of how important it
is to reflect on the relevance of his teachings and ideas to Britain. How are
the ideas of Kim Il Sung applicable to Britain?
Firstly, the great Juche idea is
applicable to Britain because it teaches that every country and every people
should be independent and masters of their own destiny. The Juche idea is
expressed in practical terms as Juche in ideology, independence in politics and
self-reliant in defence. These are policies that a new progressive government
could and should implement. Although Britain is an imperialist country it is at
the same time deeply subordinate to US imperialism and pursues the so-called
special relationship.
A new government in Britain could apply
Juche by leaving NATO and kicking out
US
troops. This would be a basic prerequisite to achieving independence in
politics. Kim Il Sung understood the need for capitalist countries to be
independent, saying: "Ours is an
era when the people demand independence. Today even the people of the
capitalist countries, to say nothing of the socialist countries, want to take
the road of independence and especially the people of the Third World who were
exploited and oppressed by the imperialists over a long period are advancing
under the uplifted banner of independence."
Kim
Il Sung showed the way to independence for the peoples of the capitalist,
socialist and Third World countries. Indeed, the Juche idea reflects the
aspirations of the peoples of all countries for independence – this is an
undeniable fact.
To establish Juche and achieve both
political and economic independence, Britain would need to break with
international capitalism and imperialism by leaving the European Union (EU),
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade
Organisation (WTO).
The British people recently voted,
decisively, to leave the hated EU. President Kim Il Sung condemned the
predecessor of the EU, the Common Market, pointing out that: "The
‘European Common Market’, the ‘integration of the world economy’ and the like,
loudly advertised by the imperialist powers today, all pursue the heinous,
aggressive aims of strangling the economic independence of the newly independent
states and subordinating these countries to their rule."
Indeed, as Britain prepares to withdraw
from the EU the teachings of Kim Il Sung on building an independent national
economy are highly relevant to the British people. When some big power
chauvinists and revisionists tried to force the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea (DPRK) to join the former Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA or
COMECON), a Soviet-led economic bloc dominated by the USSR and its Warsaw Pact
allies, this was opposed by President Kim Il Sung. The leader of the Workers
Party of Korea upheld the banner of self-reliance and the independent national
economy, saying later that: "It has become more clear today that our
decision to build socialism by our own efforts on the principle of
self-reliance and not enter the CMEA was quite correct."
He defined the building of an independent
national economy as: "Building an independent national economy means
building a diversified economy, equipping it with up-to-date technology and creating
our solid bases of raw materials, thereby building up an all embracing economic
system in which every branch is structurally interrelated so as to provide
domestically most of the products of heavy and light industry and the
agricultural produce needed to make the country wealthy and powerful and to
improve the people's living conditions."
Instead of trying to strike
free-trade deals with countries such as the USA (who will only exploit and
plunder Britain through so-called ‘free trade’) and lowering wages in order to
be 'competitive', Britain could take on board the Juche idea, the line of
self-reliance, and build an independent national economy like the DPRK.
The example of Juche-based socialism, which
is the fruit of the leadership and teachings of the great leader Kim Il Sung,
is an inspiration to the people of Britain in their fight for socialism.
Democratic Korea has provided people with the right to work, housing is
provided at a very low cost or even totally free (one could only sigh when you
contrast this to the recent headline about house prices in London going up even
faster). Education is also free up to all levels, including university and
post-graduate study. School clothes and other things for children are either
free or sold at 50 per cent of cost price. Mothers with more than three
children can work a six-hour day but be paid for eight hours. The retirement
age is 60 for men and 55 for women. Taxation, including local autonomy tax,
was abolished in 1974.
Free
medical care was introduced in 1953 and buttressed by further legalisation in
1960 and 1980. All treatment including medicine is free and the state even pays
travelling expenses to the sanatorium!
Such measures have not been taken in all
socialist countries nor in rich countries, but have been taken in the DPRK
because of the profound concern of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung for the
people and the belief that the country should shoulder full responsibility for
the destiny and well-being of the people. President Kim Il Sung made sure that
improvement of the people’s living standards was enshrined in the principles of
both the Workers Party of Korea and the DPRK. Juche Korea became the model of
socialism for the world, including Britain.
Lastly,
President Kim Il Sung always supported the struggle of the working people of
the capitalist countries, including Britain, for their rights and for
socialism. In 1983, for example, he declared: "firm solidarity with the
working classes and peoples in the capitalist countries battling against
oppression and exploitation by capital."
At a time when many British
progressives and communists had lost heart because of the overthrow of
socialism in the USSR and the people’s democracies of eastern Europe, the DPRK
stuck to the socialist road, showing that socialism was alive and not dead!
President Kim Il Sung met with a
delegation of the New Communist Party of Britain in 1990 and also with a
delegation of the Communist Party of Britain at a later date, as well as a
leading British social scientist. Twenty-five years ago on the 20th
April, 1992 President Kim Il Sung unveiled the Pyongyang Declaration: Let
Us Defend and Advance the Cause of Socialism, which was adopted by 70
parties. Now over 258 parties, including five British communist parties, have
endorsed it.
In conclusion, the revolutionary
activities and teachings of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung are vitally
relevant to British people today. The Juche idea authored by comrade Kim Il
Sung lights the road of independence for the British people.
