Revolution is, in a word, an organizationed struggle to defend and realize independence of the masses.
President Kim Il Sung said.
“The revolution is essentially an organized struggle for defending and realizing the independence of the masses.”
Revolution is, first the struggle to defend and realize independence of the masses.
It is an intrinsic demand of the masses to live independently free from all sorts of subjugation and subordination. The masses conduct revolutionary struggle for the purpose of defending and realizing their independence. All revolutionary movements are the struggle to defend and realize independence of the masses free from all national or class subordination. Therefore, the fundamental purpose of revolution is to defend and realize the masses’ independence.
Revolution is, next, the organizational struggle of the masses.
All struggles to defend and realize the masses’ independence are not revolution though revolution is the struggle to realize the masses’ independence. When the masses’ struggle to defend their independence is not made in an organizational manner, we cannot say that it is revolution. When their struggle becomes organized, it can be revolution.
Revolution has it as its main contents to overthrow the old social system and establish the new one and to change the old into the new in the fields of ideology, technology and culture.
One of the main contents of revolution is to change the old social system into the new one.
The social system is a solid system of the social relation that stipulates the position and role of the people. The old exploiter social system is an anti-popular reactionary social system where independence of the popular masses is infringed upon and privileged position is held by very few ruling class and exploiting class. Therefore the working people can become genuine masters of the society and lead an independent and creative life only when they overthrow the old social system and establish an advanced one
What is important in changing the old social system into the advanced one is to change the political and economic system.
The other of the main contents of revolution is to eliminate remnants of the old society in the fields of ideology, technology and culture and fully realize the masses’ independence.
It is not the old social system only that deters realizing the masses’ independence. In a socialist society where the masses’ socio-political independence is realized ideological, technological and cultural backwardness left over by the old society are the main factors that disturb realizing independence of the masses. Even though a new social system provides the masses with the position as masters of the society they cannot realize their independence fully, if there still remain ideological, technological and cultural backwardness of the old society. Only when the masses press ahead with the ideological, technological and cultural revolutions to be free from ideological, technological and cultural backwardness of the old society, can they liberate themselves from all sorts of subordination and subjugation. Herein lies the important reason why revolution is the undertaking to change the old into the new one in the fields of ideology, technology and culture.
