Juche

Talk to Senior Officials of the Central Committee

    of the Workers’ Party of Korea

    April 7, Juche 93 (2004)

    

    

    

    Forty years has passed since I started working on the Party Central Committee. Forty years, almost half a century, is not a short period. When I look back on the past road of revolution, there are many things that evoke memories in me; among them, what I look back on with the deepest emotion are the memories of the revolutionary comrades who have followed the Party invariably through trials and difficulties. Among them are the veterans of the anti-Japanese revolution, the old revolutionaries; the faithful officials in the period of laying down the Party’s foundations on which the Juche cause could be carried forward; and those who defended the leadership of the revolution with their lives in the days of the “Arduous March.” Because innumerable comrades have supported, upheld and assisted me through the decades and from one century to the next, I have been able to conduct the revolutionary work successfully. Always mindful of the revolutionary comrades who have been faithful to the Party I will, by dint of comradeship, carry out to the end the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered and led by President Kim Il Sung.

    

    Revolution is originally an arduous struggle that is beset by trials, a struggle to break all the social fetters and realize the independence of the masses of the people. In order to advance the revolution with success, one needs many comrades. True comrades are those who share the same ideas, will and destiny, who share life and death in overcoming difficulties and trials together and who share weal and woe on the road of revolution. The word comrade is an honourable and priceless title used between revolutionaries. Without comrades, no revolution can be pioneered or advanced. In this sense, it can be said that the revolution is comrades and comrades are the revolution.

    For someone travelling the road of revolution, there is no one who is closer and more valuable than his comrades. Since ancient times, it has been said that, for a person, his father, mother, brothers, sisters and relatives are closest to him; it is true that those people with whom he has blood ties are close. But kinship does not necessarily mean he can conduct the revolution together with them. Even though they are his family, they still must share his ideas and will. Otherwise, they cannot take the road of arduous revolution together with him. Worse still, he cannot conduct the revolution by means of human relations that are based on temporary acquaintance or the calculation of personal interest. Only those who can share life and death on the road of revolution are true comrades. To lose a comrade is easy, but to win one is difficult. Only a person who is ready to dedicate his life for his comrades can win genuine comrades. A comrade is someone whom, based on shared ideals, he cannot forsake even if it means sacrificing his life. If he has comrades, he does not fear his enemies, even though there may be millions of them, and he can surmount any difficulty. Comrades are truly the most valuable beings in the world. This is why it is said that not even gold can buy a comrade.

    A comrade is a revolutionary’s greatest property and capital. A revolutionary can live separated from his parents, but not from his comrades. It can be said that a revolutionary gains his first life from his parents and his second life from his comrades.

    Since revolutionaries are those who fight to realize their common aims, sharing the same ideas and will, so the relationship between parents and their children, if they are all revolutionaries, should be that between comrades, and surpass the blood relationship.

    When President Kim Il Sung was young, his father Kim Hyong Jik took him, on his own birthday, to a shop and bought him a pocket watch, saying, “Happy birthday, Comrade Song Ju!” Kim Hyong Jik called young Kim Il Sung “comrade” because he regarded his son as his comrade in the revolution, which surpassed the blood relationship between father and son. President Kim Il Sung later said that he had always kept the vocative in his heart, considering it as his father’s request that he become a revolutionary and fight against the Japanese aggressors to win back the country without fail.

    President Kim Il Sung treated me in his lifetime as his comrade in the revolution, and I, too, always regarded myself as a revolutionary, a comrade, of President Kim Il Sung.

    Love given and accepted between comrades on the road of revolution is revolutionary comradeship. Revolutionary comradeship is absolute trust between comrades, the spirit of doing one’s all, even sacrificing one’s life, for the sake of one’s comrades, and of boundless devotion for one another. A key aspect of it is the sharing of ideas and will, irrespective of age or blood relationship. As it is based on the community of ideas, will and fighting goals, revolutionary comradeship is an ideological emotion that is deeper and more ardent than the love of kith and kin and the intimacy between friends; it is the pinnacle of human love.

    Love between comrades is unity, and there is no power stronger than that of the unity of revolutionary comrades. Love and trust between comrades, unity based on revolutionary comradeship, does not vacillate whatever the adversity, and demonstrates power that no force can equal. Without revolutionary comradeship, we could conceive of neither the existence and development of our Party, nor our single-hearted unity, nor the victorious advance of our revolution. Revolutionary comradeship is the basis of single-hearted unity, the moral strength of our Party and the driving force of our revolution.

    The concept of revolutionary comradeship is important, in that it is related to the origin of our revolution. Comrade Kim Il Sung’s career and our Party’s history are a history of comradeship, and our revolution, pioneered under the banner of the Down-with-Imperialism Union, is a sacred cause that was opened up and has won victory after victory, by dint of comradeship.

    Having begun his revolutionary activities in his early years by gaining comrades, President Kim Il Sung opened up a new history of revolutionary comradeship. Based on the view that “A comrade is a second me, and with comrades I can win the whole world,” he never cared about the hardship, even walking a long, long distance at night, if it was for the sake of gaining comrades or for their benefit. He gained comrades first and then weapons, and he conducted the revolution after rallying his comrades and forming a Party organization to motivate them. He named the first Party organization formed at Kalun in the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, the Society for Rallying Comrades; it was a name that reflected his far-reaching ambition and revolutionary will to advance and accomplish the Korean revolution by finding and rallying comrades who would share life and death with him.

    As you must know from reading his memoirs, President Kim Il Sung, once he had formed comradely relations, treasured his comrades and honoured them, trusted them and did everything he could for them. The many legendary anecdotes told about his love and trust for his comrades–that of the bowl of parched-rice flour in the days of the Arduous March, that of the memorial address he spent all night writing for his revolutionary comrade who had fallen in action, and that of enlisting into the main unit of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army 100 guerrillas who had been suspected of being pro-Japanese “Minsaengdan”9 members after burning their documents in front of them–reveal how ardent and noble his revolutionary comradeship was. For nearly half a century until the last day of his life, he kept in his safe a photograph of himself with Kim Chaek taken just after the liberation of the country, and this moved everyone who heard about it. While he displayed the dignity of a brilliant, valiant commander in front of the enemy, he was a great man, a great comrade, who spared no affection for his comrades and shed tears for them; he was the supreme incarnation of revolutionary comradeship.

    Because he cherished noble comradeship and virtue, he was always surrounded by many comrades. In the days of his revolutionary struggle, young communists such as Kim Hyok and Cha Kwang Su acclaimed him as the centre of their unity, the centre of leadership at the dawn of our revolution, and they laid down their lives for him without hesitation. As the successors to the anti-Japanese revolutionary forerunners, hundreds of thousands of revolutionary soldiers fought resolutely in loyal support and defence of him. Whenever he had the opportunity in his lifetime, he always pointed out that it had been thanks to the love of his comrades that he had been able to lead our revolution to victory over such a long period from the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, adding that he had lived among his comrades ever since taking leave of his parents at the tender age of 14.

    That revolution starts by gaining comrades is a precious truth I have inherited. Since I value this truth, I love my revolutionary comrades most and believe in them as I do myself. Because he has comrades, Kim Jong Il exists; without them Kim Jong Il could not exist–this is my ideological creed. The belief that my comrade is me and I am him–this is my view of a comrade. I have a special fondness for Song of Comradeship, simply because I treasure my comrades. The song describes in philosophical depth reverence for and loyalty to the leader and the love for revolutionary comrades. In the song’s lyric, I like best the words We must take the revolutionary road rain or snow / Let us be true to our oath / We look up to Hanbyol10, our lodestar. These words imply that one must remain true to one’s oath to the leader of the revolution, without vacillation or hesitation, whatever the adversity.

    Revolutionary comradeship is our Party’s revolutionary philosophy, its political philosophy. Our Party’s benevolent and all-embracing politics are politics based on the idea of serving the people as heaven, which is a reflection of the Juche idea; politics of love for and trust in the people, which brim over with the noble idea of comradeship. The Songun politics our Party is unfolding also embodies the idea of revolutionary comradeship. I view our soldiers not in the context of the relationship between men and their Supreme Commander, but as revolutionary comrades who share my ideas and will, and I love them boundlessly. However remote and difficult of access, I visit the places where my soldiers are, showing them my trust and affection and making them my comrades in the Songun revolution. The soldiers place absolute trust in me and follow me, calling me, the Supreme Commander, their closest comrade.

    Our Party holds the revolutionary veterans, the pioneers of our revolution, in high esteem and immortalizes the martyrs who made such great contributions to the revolution. The Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery on Mt. Taesong and the Patriotic Martyrs Cemetery in Sinmi-ri will shine for ever in our Party’s history as symbols of noble comradeship.

    A large contingent of revolutionary comrades has grown up under the banner of Songun, and the single-hearted unity of the revolutionary ranks is gaining strength on the basis of revolutionary comradeship. In our country today, such traits of comradeship as covering an exploding hand-grenade with one’s body to save one’s comrades, dedicating the prime of one’s life to taking care of an honoured disabled soldier as his or her spouse, looking after orphaned children as one’s own flesh and blood, and caring for bereft old people as one’s own parents, are fully evident. We can take due pride in the fine traditions of revolutionary comradeship that are flourishing in the new era of the Juche revolution, the Songun era.

    Our revolution, launched on Mt. Paektu, is yet to be accomplished. The road of revolution is as long and rugged as ever. In order to march forward victoriously along the rugged road of revolution, we must hold up higher the slogan of comradeship. The revolutionary tasks facing us today and the situation prevailing in the country demand that the slogan of comradeship be held higher than ever before. Our Party has formulated a grand plan for building a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country on this land, upholding President Kim Il Sung’s lifetime will, and the entire Party, the whole army and all the people are striving to implement it. The US imperialists are resorting to every manner of scheme to crush our Republic, the bulwark of socialism, and our country has become the setting for fierce confrontation between socialism and imperialism. Without a large contingent of revolutionary comrades sharing life and death with us, we can neither emerge victorious in the fight with a powerful enemy who boasts of being the “strongest,” nor build a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country by overcoming the severe difficulties we face today. Holding high the slogan of revolutionary comradeship, we should train all the members of society into comrades in the Songun revolution and make the whole society a world of comrades.

    The most important thing in this world of comrades is the love between the leader and his people. The leader is the centre of comradeship. A large contingent of comrades is drawn together by the leader’s affection, and the people are linked to one another in a comradely way based on his ideas. Separated from the leader, both love between comrades and the world of comrades are unthinkable.

    The relationship between the leader and his people must be a truly comradely relationship, based on revolutionary faith and obligation, not that of simply issuing and obeying orders. The people must have absolute trust in their leader, support him faithfully and follow him to the end with complete faith and a clear conscience. In supporting and defending their leader our officials must be sincere and free of selfish motives or affectations; they must not stick to accepted forms and conventions. They must think in the way their leader thinks and intends when they think, say what he would say when they speak, and keep in step with him when they walk. The person who lives and works in conformity with their leader’s ideas and will is his true comrade in the revolution.

    In our country all the people are revolutionary comrades who work to realize common goals under the Party’s leadership, transcending differences in age, background, position and duties. They should all be faithful to their comradely obligations, trusting and loving one another, and devote themselves to their comrades by regarding another’s troubles as their own. As comrades sharing the same destiny on the road of revolution, they should help and lead one another forward and work together with one mind for the sake of their common goals. Love between comrades should be not only warm and true but also principled; comradeship should be expressed through principled criticism. Between revolutionary comrades criticism is an expression of trust and affection. The more valuable a comrade is, the more determined one should be to criticize his or her mistakes promptly in order to help him or her to correct them. Comradeship should also be exercised properly in the relationship between superiors and subordinates. Superiors and subordinates should share the same understanding and feelings. Subordinates should respect and help their superiors, and the latter should take warm care of the former and lead them.

    Revolutionary comradeship is formed and consolidated through the practical struggle to carry out the Party’s lines and policies. The people should be encouraged to cultivate the spirit of comradeship and establish the climate of working by pooling their determination and ideas in the struggle to carry out the Party’s lines and policies.

    The single-hearted unity of the revolutionary ranks should be consolidated, based on revolutionary comradeship. Single-hearted unity is the foundation of our revolution and an invincible weapon more powerful than an atomic bomb. The single-hearted unity of the revolutionary ranks should be forged, based on revolutionary comradeship and obligation; only then can it become genuine and solid. Revolutionary comradeship and unity are more precious to us than life, since we are defending socialism and conducting a hard struggle in confrontation with a powerful enemy. By exercising revolutionary comradeship in a thoroughgoing way, we should rally all the members of society around the Party and consolidate the single-hearted unity of the revolutionary ranks so that they are as strong as steel.

    The People’s Army should take the lead in exercising revolutionary comradeship.

    The People’s Army is the armed ranks defending the Party, the revolution, the motherland and the people by force of arms. The source of its might lies in its political and ideological superiority, the most important element of which is its unity based on revolutionary comradeship. Arms that are combined with revolutionary comradeship will always be victorious.

    The Supreme Commander and his men constitute an integral whole, in which they share life and death. All service people should become the leading revolutionary comrades of their Supreme Commander, sharing his will, his feelings and even his destiny, and the entire army should become a collective of death-defying guards for the revolutionary leadership.

    We should give full play to the unity between officers and soldiers, between superiors and subordinates, in the People’s Army, so as to turn the entire army into a collective of comrades. This type of unity is a traditional trait of our revolutionary armed forces and one of its most important characteristics. Constantly modernizing the military hardware is important in improving the combat effectiveness of the revolutionary armed forces; but more important still, is to ensure unity between the officers and the rank and file, between revolutionary comrades who are to share their blood and even death in a sacred and just war. All commanding officers should love their soldiers as if they were family, and take loving care of them, and the rank and file should trust and follow their commanding officers with complete loyalty.

    We should strengthen the comradely unity between the army and the people by developing the relations between them. The soldiers should serve the people with devotion and the people should love the soldiers like their own flesh and blood and support them loyally. The army and the people should defend the Party and support its cause on the strength of their single-hearted unity by achieving unity of their fighting spirit and thoughts under the Party’s leadership.

    Effective education in revolutionary comradeship should be conducted among the soldiers and people.

    Above all else, education in the Juche idea should be intensified among them. Without the Juche idea, genuine comradely relations cannot be established, nor can solid unity and cohesion be achieved. When all the soldiers and all the people cherish the Juche idea as an article of their faith and think and act as one in conformity with its requirements, they will display a high level of revolutionary comradeship and our single-hearted unity will be developed further.

    The soldiers and the people should be equipped with our Party’s tradition of comradeship. What is important in this tradition is the comradeship that is centred on the leader, the comradeship between the leader and his people that is based on trust and obligation. This tradition was created in the crucible of the exceptionally arduous revolutionary struggle, and its vitality has been demonstrated in the practical revolution at several stages. The soldiers and the people should be educated in the Party’s tradition of revolutionary comradeship, so that they equip themselves with the attitude of a revolutionary comrade, and in this way they can be trained into comrades in the Songun revolution who will defend the Party with their lives and faithfully support the Party’s Songun idea and leadership. Models of revolutionary comradeship should be held up and their examples popularized, to encourage the full flowering of the virtue of comradeship across society.

    We should defend the motherland and the revolution and build a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country on the strength of the single-hearted unity of the Party, the army and the people, based on revolutionary comradeship.