Treatise Published in Sogwang, Organ of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army

    November 10, 1937

    Twenty-seven years have elapsed since the Japanese imperialists occupied Korea.

    During this period they have turned our country into a source of raw materials and labour, a market for their commodities and a military base for aggression against the continent.

    Owing to their ferocious colonial policy, the Korean people have been deprived of their national rights and freedom and are suffering untold sorrow as a ruined people. Our people are not only subjected to double and treble oppression and exploitation by the Japanese imperialists and their lackeys in a manner reminiscent of mediaeval times, but threatened with the danger of being deprived of their beautiful written and spoken language.

    The Sino-Japanese War unleashed by the Japanese imperialists is driving our people into an even more terrible plight. With an eye to ensuring “safety in the rear,” the Japanese imperialists have greatly expanded their fascist, colonial, repressive machinery–troops, police, prisons, gallows and all–and concocted a new set of Draconian laws. In this way, they have turned our beautiful land of 3,000 ri into a living hell on earth. They are cracking down on the revolutionary forces with fury, while suppressing and slaughtering innocent people as never before. Since last summer these hangmen have destroyed

    the lower echelons of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland and atrociously arrested and imprisoned a large number of underground political workers and members of the ARF in the northern border area of our country. In all parts of Korea they have seized and imprisoned countless numbers of innocent people and are wantonly slaughtering them. They have openly instituted compulsory conscription and grain deliveries in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for manpower and materials in their aggressive war against the continent. Thus, our precious young and middle-aged people are being forcibly rounded up to become bullet shields for the Japanese imperialists and our country’s abundant natural wealth is being ruthlessly plundered.

    Our people, known for their 5,000-year-old history and brilliant culture, are now standing at the crossroads of life and death, and the dark clouds of national calamity are hovering over our land.

    In these grim days of national suffering, all kinds of renegades from the revolution–national reformists, Right and “Left” opportunists and factionalist sycophants–have cast off their masks and are openly conniving with the Japanese imperialist aggressors.

    Time has proved that we communists are the only pivotal force of the revolution capable of guiding the destiny of the country and the people to the end, and it has set before us a heavier and more difficult task.

    Severe trials and difficulties stand in the way of the Korean revolution, but the situation continues to develop in favour of the revolution.

    The frantic war policy and the savage fascist suppression of the Japanese imperialists are not a sign of their might; they reflect the last-minute desperation of those who are on the brink of disaster. The Sino-Japanese War ignited by Japanese imperialism is intensifying the contradictions between the imperialist powers and weakening the imperialist camp as a whole. The more the Japanese imperialists expand the war, the deeper they will fall into a bottomless pit. In the end, the flames of war will engulf those who ignited them.

    Today the national and class contradictions between the Japanese imperialists and the Korean people are becoming extremely acute. Workers, peasants, youths, students, intellectuals, non-comprador capitalists, traders, men of religion and, indeed, all the Korean people, while cursing Japanese imperialism as their sworn enemy, wait impatiently for the day when the enemy is defeated and wage anti-Japanese struggles in various parts of the country.

    From ancient times, the Korean people have been known as a valiant and resourceful people who would rather die fighting than surrender. Following the occupation of Korea by Japanese imperialism, various forms of resolute anti-Japanese struggle, such as the Righteous Volunteers movement, the Independence Army movement, riots by workers and peasants and the anti-Japanese movement of youth and students, took place in our country.

    Now, in the 1930s, the anti-Japanese armed struggle, organized and led by us communists, is dealing Japanese imperialism a telling blow and has raised the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle to a new stage. The path traversed by our people since the Japanese imperialist occupation is the path of national salvation, one attended by bloody struggles.

    We, Korean communists, must take advantage of all favourable internal and external circumstances and promote the brilliant patriotic traditions of our people. We must organize and mobilize the masses of the people correctly in the struggle to fulfil the solemn task of defeating Japanese imperialism and regaining our lost country.

    1. THE CHARACTER OF THE KOREAN REVOLUTION

    AT THE PRESENT STAGE

    To define the character of the revolution correctly is of the utmost significance for organizing and leading the revolutionary struggle correctly and hastening the victory of the revolution. Only by correctly defining the character of the revolution is it possible to map out scientific strategy and tactics and, on this basis, confidently organize and mobilize the masses of the people for the revolutionary struggle.

    Formerly, it was asserted by some that the Korean revolution is a “socialist revolution” at the present stage, and by others that it is a “bourgeois revolution.” Both are wrong.

    The character of a revolution is determined by the basic tasks of that revolution and by the socio-class relations at each stage. The view that the revolution in our country is a “bourgeois revolution” and the view that it is a “socialist revolution” are Rightist and “Leftist” deviations resulting from an incorrect understanding of the basic tasks of the Korean revolution and the actual socio-class relations in our country at the present stage. These views are hostile to the revolution and aim to hinder the close unity of the revolutionary forces and divert the spearhead of struggle.

    Our country is a semi-feudal, colonial society where, because of Japanese imperialist colonial rule, capitalist development is extremely retarded and feudal relations of production are predominant.

    Under these circumstances, the basic tasks of the Korean revolution at the present stage are to carry out the task of the anti-imperialist national liberation revolution to overthrow Japanese imperialist colonial rule and regain our lost country and, at the same time, to fulfil the task of the anti-feudal democratic revolution to eliminate feudal relations and pave the way for the country’s development along democratic lines. These two tasks are closely interrelated. This is seen in the fact that the Japanese imperialist aggressors–the colonial rulers–on the one hand and the landlords and the former feudal bureaucrats–the champions of feudal relations–on the other are in collusion with each other.

    Japanese imperialism maintains its colonial system of rule in Korea with the help of its agents, the comprador capitalists and the feudal landlords, and the landlords retain the feudal relations of exploitation under its patronage. Therefore, the struggle against Japanese imperialism and the struggle against feudalism must be waged as an integral whole.

    Hence, our revolution at the present stage is an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution.

    What, then, are the concrete targets of our revolution at the present stage?

    In the Korean revolution the main target is the aggressive forces of Japanese imperialism. Colonial rule by Japanese imperialism is at the very root of all the misery the Korean people are suffering and the buttress of all social fetters in this country. The Japanese imperialists have done everything possible to turn our country into a permanent colony and enslave our people for all time. They wantonly obliterate everything unique to the Korean nation and hamper ferociously the revolutionary advance of the Korean working class and the rest of the working masses. They have no scruples about introducing into Korea all the decadence and corruption which they think helpful to their colonial rule.

    The overthrow of Japanese imperialist colonial rule and the restoration of the country’s independence are prerequisites for the national and class liberation of our people and for social progress in our country. Our people’s struggle against Japanese imperialism is aimed at regaining their lost country and restoring their national rights in all spheres of politics, the economy and culture and, at the same time, at removing all the obstacles to national and social progress so as to pave the way for national prosperity.

    So the first and foremost revolutionary task confronting Korean communists and other revolutionary people is to organize and mobilize all the revolutionary forces for the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle.

    Other targets of the Korean revolution are pro-Japanese landlords, comprador capitalists, traitors to the nation and pro-Japanese bureaucrats who put themselves at the beck and call of the Japanese imperialists and serve them as faithful pawns.

    They all actively help the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism in Korea and, in partnership with it, oppress and exploit the people. They hamper the people most viciously in their anti-Japanese struggle. In the countryside they employ feudal methods based on the feudal ownership of land to oppress and exploit the peasants savagely with the backing of Japanese imperialism, and in the towns they cruelly exploit the workers in a capitalist as well as a feudal way. They also play the role of transmitters of obsolete feudal customs and slavish mentality and of guides helping Japanese imperialism to stretch out its claws of colonial rule deeper into all fields.

    Consequently, if they are left untouched, the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle can never be successful nor can the way be paved for the democratic development of the country. Therefore, we must fight against Japanese imperialism and, at the same time, wage a resolute struggle against the pro-Japanese landlords, comprador capitalists, traitors to the nation and pro-Japanese bureaucrats.

    To be successful in the revolutionary struggle we must have a correct understanding not only of the character and targets of the revolution but also of its motive force. In any revolution an important guarantee of victory is the involvement of people of all classes and strata who are interested in the revolution.

    The motive force of the Korean revolution at the present stage comprises the broad anti-imperialist democratic forces, such as workers, peasants, youths, students, intellectuals and petty bourgeoisie. National capitalists and religious people with a conscience can also join in the anti-imperialist struggle.

    The working class is the leading class in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution, not to mention the future socialist revolution and the period of building socialism and communism. This is because the working class alone is the most advanced class that champions the fundamental interests of the working masses, has the strongest revolutionary spirit and sense of organization and is able to organize and lead all working masses to victory in the revolution.

    Our working class has a more vital interest in the anti-imperialist national liberation revolution than any other class.

    Under Japanese imperialist colonial rule, the Korean working class lives in abject misery. The Japanese imperialists have, on the one hand, retarded the growth of our national economy to the extreme and, on the other, have almost all industries in their grip. They are exploiting the Korean workers with unheard-of cruelty. In pursuit of their aim of grinding down our workers more ruthlessly, they are using every possible method to intensify labour to the maximum and extending the working day to as many as 12 to 18 hours. Even under such terrible conditions not all workers are provided with jobs. The Japanese imperialists are pursuing the wickedest colonial predatory policy–employing cheap juvenile and female labour and continually dismissing adult workers–to secure the maximum colonial super-profits. Thus, many workers are thrown out of work to form an industrial reserve army, deprived even of the elementary right to live.

    The Japanese imperialists pay the Korean workers less than half the wages of the Japanese workers for the same work. Worse still, they take back the greater part of this in the name of “defence contribution,” “government bonds,” “fines” and so on. Thus Korean workers have been reduced to such a state that they can hardly eke out a living in spite of their indescribably hard toil.

    The living conditions of our workers have worsened since the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese imperialists forcibly drag our workers to military construction sites for slave labour and do not pay them even starvation wages. Finally, they kill them in cold blood under the pretext of “protecting secrets.”

    This intolerably unfair and wretched situation our workers find themselves in has not only roused their revolutionary spirit, but also made them move forward towards organizing and tempering themselves as a class in actual struggles and stand in the forefront of the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle.

    An analysis of this struggle, which has gone on for more than 20 years in our country, reveals that it is only the working class that can lead the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution.

    The bourgeois and petty-bourgeois intellectuals in our country have always vacillated in face of the difficulties that have cropped up in the course of the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle because of the weakness inherent in their class position, and they have attempted to attain the independence of Korea not in a revolutionary way but in an easy way. The Incentive Production Association, the Yonjong Association and so on, which they created allegedly for Korean independence, were all national reformist groupings that wanted reform and compromise instead of revolution and struggle.

    Therefore, if we are to complete the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution, it is of primary importance to ensure the leading role of the working class, the class vitally interested in this revolution and struggling dauntlessly in defiance of difficulties.

    Together with the working class, the peasantry occupies an important place in the Korean revolution. The peasantry is a dependable ally of the working class and, like the working class, constitutes a main force of the revolution.

    In countries like ours, where the peasantry accounts for the overwhelming majority of the population, special importance should be attached to their position in the revolution. Peasants comprise more than 80 percent of our population. In such circumstances, winning them over is a key to the success of the revolution. If we fail to involve the peasants in the revolution in such a country as ours, the end result will be that the working class will be isolated, its leading role weakened and, furthermore, the overwhelming majority of the population will be left to the influence of the enemy.

    One reason our peasantry holds an important place in the revolution is its numerical preponderance. Another reason is that it also has a most vital interest in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution.

    The colonial rule of Japanese imperialism has condemned our peasants to abject poverty and starvation. In the countryside the Japanese imperialists exploit the peasants, keeping feudal landownership intact and using the landlords as their agents. At the same time, they expropriate fertile land in the name of “land survey,” the “organization of the Oriental Development Company,” and so on.

    In 1914, shortly after the Japanese imperialist occupation of Korea, more than 60 percent of Korean peasants tilled their own land, with tenant farmers and hired hands accounting for only 35 percent. Today, however, the proportion of tenant farmers and hired hands has jumped to over 70 percent, while that of peasants tilling their own land has dropped below 18 percent. Thus the overwhelming majority of the Korean peasants have been reduced to the status of the rural proletariat. Driven from their hereditary farmlands, innumerable peasants are tramping alien countries begging for food or are eking out a mere existence subjected to inhuman treatment under the lash of the Japanese gangsters, the landlords and the capitalists. As for those peasants who are still lucky enough to work on their own land, most of them are living off the bark of trees or grass roots, unable to secure enough food to live on because of heavy taxation, and they live in constant anxiety lest they be evicted.

    To meet their war demands, the Japanese imperialists are pressganging rural young and middle-aged men indiscriminately for military duties or as labour for the construction of military installations. Every year they plunder millions of sok of rice, which they ship to Japan. This military burden imposed on the peasants has made their plight absolutely intolerable.

    In this way our countryside has been turned into a shocking famine area, the like of which has scarcely been seen anywhere in the world at any time in history.

    This dire distress has triggered the bitter wrath of our peasants against the Japanese imperialists and the feudal landlords. They have stepped out with determination onto the road of anti-imperialist, anti-feudal struggle, realizing that revolution is the only way to make life possible for them.

    Disregarding this situation, the “Left” opportunists and factionalist sycophants have underestimated the revolutionary spirit of the Korean peasantry, alleging that they are “two-faced” and that “they can hardly stand by the revolution to the end, because they are a small-propertied class and so vacillate easily.”

    This conflicts with the realities and is in total opposition to the stand that must be taken to strengthen the revolutionary forces.

    Korean communists should repudiate all the prejudices against and the wrong attitudes towards our peasants and strive to win them over, so that the main forces of the revolution will be built up on a solid basis.

    Because of its anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic nature, our revolution requires that not only workers and peasants, but also youth, students, intellectuals, members of the small-propertied classes, non-comprador capitalists and honest religious believers be enlisted on the side of the revolution. The fascist colonial rule of the Japanese imperialists inevitably fills the youth, students, intellectuals, members of the small-propertied classes, non-comprador capitalists and honest religious believers with hatred against Japanese imperialism and leads them to fling themselves into the fight for the independence of the country and the liberation of the people.

    In general, the youth, students and intellectuals have a strong sense of justice and are responsive to progressive ideas and the trend of the times because they are searching for science and truth. Therefore, the progressive elements among them are the first to learn Marxism-Leninism, awaken and enlighten the workers and peasants and thus play the role of pioneer leading them into the revolutionary movement.

    In particular, our youth, students and intellectuals not only are directly subjected to national oppression and discrimination by Japanese imperialism but suffer the hard fate common to the whole nation caused by Japanese imperialist colonial rule, and they are more keenly aware than anyone else of the irrationality of our present-day society.

    This is why they have developed a national consciousness faster than others and have stronger anti-imperialist sentiments. They are participating actively in the national liberation revolution, impelled by the progressive spirit to fight for justice and inspired by the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution to drive out the foreign imperialist aggressor forces and make our backward country as prosperous as others.

    Many of them have been struggling resolutely against the Japanese imperialists since the first days of their occupation of Korea and have made great contributions in rousing workers and peasants and other broad masses who are against Japanese imperialism to revolutionary struggle. In the period of preparing the anti-Japanese armed struggle, too, revolutionary youth, students and intellectuals played a great role in cementing the revolutionary ranks organizationally and ideologically and in laying the mass base of the struggle. Joining the ranks of the anti-Japanese guerrillas and the underground revolutionary organizations, they are now fighting unyieldingly.

    All this testifies to the fact that they are playing an important role in the revolutionary struggle.

    But they cannot themselves become a political force or assume a decisive role in the revolutionary struggle because of their weakness, vacillation and “do-it-only-halfway” nature. Only under the leadership of the communists and the working class can they play a revolutionary role in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution.

    As for the non-comprador capitalists, they should also be viewed analytically. Non-comprador capitalists in colonial and semi-colonial countries have certain characteristics different from the bourgeoisie of the capitalist countries.

    From a class point of view, the non-comprador capitalists come under the heading of the exploiting class, but their economic activities are repressed by foreign imperialists and their comprador capitalist allies and they are always exposed to the threat of bankruptcy. Therefore, they have an anti-imperialist spirit and a desire for national independence, though not steadfast.

    In particular, non-comprador capitalists in our country are slipping rapidly towards bankruptcy as a result of the fascist colonial terrorist rule of the Japanese imperialists and the subsequent large-scale infiltration of Japanese monopoly capital. Korean capital in 1928 accounted for over 26 percent of the total industrial output value, but the figure today is less than 10 percent. Even this figure is barely maintained through sticking to such extremely secondary branches as rice cleaning, cotton ginning and so on.

    Since they are destined to become ruined under Japanese imperialist colonial rule, they have an interest in the anti-Japanese national liberation revolution and feel impelled to join it.

    The comprador capitalists are more afraid of the people’s anti-imperialist revolutionary struggle than of imperialist aggression. The non-comprador capitalists, however, resist imperialist aggression and support the people’s anti-imperialist revolutionary struggle. To call the non-comprador capitalists reactionary because of the acts of treachery to the country and the people perpetrated by a handful of comprador capitalists would only mean weakening the anti-imperialist revolutionary forces. Drawing them into the anti-imperialist national liberation struggle is of great importance for isolating the enemy to the maximum and strengthening the revolutionary forces.

    As can be seen, at the present stage of the Korean revolution its motive force consists of the anti-Japanese forces drawn from broad sections of society. We should assume a principled and magnanimous attitude towards all classes and strata that can join the revolution. We should accept, rally and organize them and in this way mobilize all the anti-Japanese forces for the anti-imperialist national liberation struggle.

    What, then, are the tasks of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution in our country?

    Needless to say, the primary and fundamental task is to overthrow the Japanese imperialist aggressors and all the reactionary forces–pro-Japanese landlords, comprador capitalists and so on–who ally themselves with the aggressors. When this task has been fulfilled, however, it does not mean that the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution will have been completed. It should be followed up by abolishing the social and economic relations on which the Japanese imperialists and their accomplices–the reactionary forces–rely in all branches of politics, the economy and culture and by firmly establishing a new, progressive democratic system so as to make sure that the old system will never be revived.

    Our foremost task following the defeat of the Japanese imperialist aggressors is to set up a democratic government.

    The fundamental question of the revolution is the question of power. The seizure of power is indispensable for our people’s complete national and class liberation and for the building of a prosperous, independent, and sovereign state in our country. Through their bitter experience as slaves in a ruined nation, the Korean people have come to realize sharply what fate lies in store for a people as long as they are without state power of their own. Indeed, there is no more important task than that of establishing a state power of genuinely our own.

    In solving the question of power it is very important to decide the form it should take to fit in with the character and tasks of the revolution and the class relationships in a given period.

    What form of democratic power, then, should we set up?

    There can be two forms of democratic power. One belongs to the category of bourgeois power, i.e., democratic power led by the propertied classes. The other comes under the category of proletarian power, i.e., democratic power led by the working class.

    The former champions the interests of an extremely limited section of the population, comprising the bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie. It always vacillates and is not steadfast and, therefore, cannot lead the people to socialism and communism, the ultimate goal of the workers and poor peasants.

    In contrast, the latter defends the fundamental interests of the workers and peasants, carries out the tasks of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution in a thoroughgoing way and can lead the masses to socialism and communism, their ultimate goal.

    Therefore, the power we shall establish after the overthrow of Japanese imperialism is people-oriented, democratic power coming under the category of proletarian power, i.e., democratic power led by the working class.

    After the establishment of this power we must firmly rely on it in introducing agrarian reform and other democratic reforms. The most important thing here is to wipe out the remnants of Japanese imperialism root and branch.

    Even after the destruction of the colonial ruling machinery of Japanese imperialism, this is essential in all branches of politics, the economy and culture for ensuring the successful fulfilment of the tasks of the anti-imperialist national liberation revolution, the complete political independence of the country and its development along democratic lines after the elimination of all feudal forces.

    To do away with the remnant forces of Japanese imperialism, we should first eliminate all the reactionary landlords, pro-Japanese elements and traitors to the nation, who constitute the mainstay of the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism and actively defend its ruling machinery, and leave no room for them to manoeuvre.

    Furthermore, all the laws and rules concocted by the Japanese imperialists must be declared invalid and new ones safeguarding the interests of the broad masses formulated to establish a new order in state construction. Survivals of ideology and way of life introduced by Japanese imperialism should be abolished, public education developed in our own language, both written and spoken, and our own national culture restored.

    Unless we destroy the economic base of the Japanese imperialists and comprador capitalists, we cannot pave the way for the independent development of the economy, nor can we consolidate the political independence of the country. We must nationalize the major industries–the mines, factories, railways, transport, banks, communications and home and foreign trade–held by the Japanese state and by Japanese and Korean comprador capitalists and make them the property of all the people. In this way, we shall see to it that the major means of production are used effectively to promote the independence and prosperity of the country and the people’s welfare, and that the economic base is laid for building a new society, free from exploitation and oppression.

    Along with these anti-imperialist revolutionary tasks, we must carry out the tasks of the anti-feudal democratic revolution in a thoroughgoing way.

    Top priority here is to solve the land problem correctly. Solution of this problem constitutes the basic content of the anti-feudal democratic revolution, because it can deliver the peasantry, the overwhelming majority of the population, from feudal fetters and feudal exploitation, radically improve their social and political status and open up a wide avenue for social progress and the development of productive forces.

    We must confiscate the land held by the Japanese state and the Japanese and pro-Japanese landlords and distribute it among the peasants who till it and put an end to all aspects of feudal landownership, such as tenancy and the purchase and sale of land. The economic base of the feudal forces should be so completely uprooted that it will never be able to revive.

    Furthermore, we must see to it that the people are emancipated from all kinds of social discrimination and inequality, and, especially, that women, who make up half the population, are completely freed from feudal subjugation.

    Along with this, the working people must be assured of political freedom and democratic rights in all respects. Various social measures must be introduced to protect the working people, such as the eight-hour workday, labour protection and state insurance, and conditions must be provided for all working people to participate in labour freely and work to their heart’s content under the protection of the state and society.

    The introduction of all these social and economic reforms will constitute a profound social revolution aimed at removing the consequences of the monstrous colonial rule of Japanese imperialism and all the social evils and fetters that have existed for thousands of years.

    The communists should be quick to realize the centuries-old desire of broad sections of the working masses to cast off all social oppression and exploitation, encourage them to actively participate in the revolutionary struggle with the utmost political enthusiasm and lead them constantly along the road of revolution.

    With the fulfilment of the tasks of the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal revolution the revolution will not have been completed. In carrying out the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal democratic revolution, we communists must continue the revolution and build a veritable paradise of socialism and communism in this country, free from oppression and exploitation.

    2. IMMEDIATE TASKS OF KOREAN COMMUNISTS

    What are the immediate tasks of the Korean communists for carrying the Korean revolution forward to victory?

    To begin with, Korean communists must broaden and step up the anti-Japanese armed struggle and lead it to victory, thus splendidly accomplishing the sacred task of regaining our country.

    In order to drive out the imperialist aggressors and carry the national liberation revolution to completion, we must wage armed struggle resolutely. Imperialism relies on the military power of counter-revolution to establish its class rule and dominate its colonies and it will never give up aggression and war until its counter-revolutionary military power is utterly defeated.

    Nobody can expect the Japanese imperialists, the most brazen and piratical aggressors, who have tasted the sweat and blood of the colonial people and boast of the “might of great Imperial Japan,” to withdraw from Korea meekly before their counter-revolutionary military power is routed.

    That is why we Korean communists have organized and waged armed struggle against the Japanese imperialist robbers since the beginning of the 1930s, delivering heavy blows at their counter-revolutionary military power.

    The need to broaden and step up the anti-Japanese armed struggle has become a matter of greater urgency today.

    After igniting the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese imperialists sent a large force to the front in North China, aiming to win their war of aggression against the continent by lightning warfare tactics. Meanwhile, to make their “home front safe,” they are desperately carrying out “mopping-up” operations against our revolutionary armed forces and intensifying the suppression and plunder of the Korean people.

    Frantic expansion of the Japanese imperialists’ aggressive war only brings nearer their ruin and creates favourable conditions for the struggle of the Korean communists to hasten the liberation of our country.

    Under these conditions, we must definitely broaden and step up the anti-Japanese armed struggle to defeat the rampaging Japanese imperialists and realize the noble historic cause of regaining our lost country at the earliest possible date.

    This is also necessary to ensure the continued upsurge of the Korean revolution as a whole.

    The anti-Japanese armed struggle is the mainstream of the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle in our country and the highest form of this struggle. Stepping it up is essential for the successful development of the various forms of anti-Japanese struggle being waged by all sections of the people, including workers, peasants, youth and students.

    Therefore, the Korean communists must do this to bring about a new upswing in the entire Korean revolution. To broaden and develop the anti-Japanese armed struggle, we must first increase the strength of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army and intensify its military and political activities.

    The KPRA is not only a revolutionary armed force directly engaged in the anti-Japanese armed struggle, but also a revolutionary army of organizers and information workers whose task is to educate and organize the broad masses and in this way expand and further the Korean revolution as a whole.

    Strengthening the KPRA politically and militarily is a decisive guarantee for stepping up the anti-Japanese armed struggle and increasing its influence in every way.

    In strengthening the KPRA it is most important to raise the political and ideological level of all the officers and men.

    The source of the revolutionary army’s invincible might lies in its political and ideological superiority. Because of its officers’ and men’s intense loyalty to their country and class, the KPRA is invincible and is capable of annihilating any army of the exploiter classes. However, we cannot give full scope to the essential superiority of a revolutionary army unless we work steadfastly to raise the political and ideological level of the officers and men. Therefore, we must steadily equip all the officers and men with a revolutionary world outlook so that they will be able to pursue the arduous and prolonged revolutionary struggle with an indomitable fighting spirit.

    All the officers and men of the KPRA are revolutionary fighters ready to give their all for the restoration of the motherland and the emancipation of the people. However, if we fail to keep building up their confidence in the victory of the revolution under present conditions when our struggle is becoming more difficult and the enemy is stepping up his ideological offensive, we cannot increase the KPRA’s political and ideological might.

    This sets us the task of continuing to strengthen political and ideological education among them. First we must teach them Marxist-Leninist principles. At the same time, we must firmly arm them with the lines, strategy and tactics of the Korean revolution. This will help them acquire a firm revolutionary world outlook. Furthermore, we should get them to adopt the revolutionary mass viewpoint, the revolutionary style of work, a sense of revolutionary comradeship and voluntary discipline. This is the way to turn all of them into staunch revolutionary fighters convinced of victory in the revolution and filled with the lofty revolutionary spirit to devote their youth and lives wholly to the sacred task of restoring the country. And this is the way to turn them into true educators of the people and skilful organizers of the mass movement.

    The political and ideological superiority of the KPRA can become ever greater when combined with powerful military technical might. The Japanese imperialist aggressor troops are the most savage and crafty invaders, armed to the teeth with modern military hardware. If we are to defeat such an enemy, the KPRA must be thoroughly prepared politically and ideologically. It must also be armed with excellent military technique and superb guerrilla tactics.

    While constantly expanding and strengthening the units of the KPRA, we must avail ourselves of every opportunity to promote military education and training, so that all military cadres and soldiers become expert in handling weapons and equipment and well versed in guerrilla tactics.

    By strengthening the KPRA politically and militarily in this way, we shall be able to train it to become a revolutionary force capable of crushing the numerical superiority of the enemy with our political and ideological superiority and his military and technical superiority with our superiority in guerrilla tactics.

    Strengthening the KPRA politically and militarily must go simultaneously with increasing its military and political activities.

    The KPRA units should launch a large-scale offensive behind the lines of the Japanese imperialist aggressor troops, who are intent on their war of aggression against China proper, put them in a passive position and create a situation definitely in favour of the Korean revolution.

    To this end, we should closely and actively combine large and small unit operations in keeping with the balance of forces between the enemy and our side and the changes in the situation, extend the scope of our armed struggle deep into our homeland, and, in conjunction with this, organize a nationwide war of resistance. When the vigorous military and political activities of the KPRA and the nationwide war of resistance are combined, the Japanese imperialist robbers will be defeated and the country’s independence will certainly be restored.

    Second, Korean communists must organize and conduct more vigorously the anti-Japanese national united front movement and unite closely a wider segment of the anti-Japanese patriotic forces on a nationwide scale, so that the revolutionary forces secure superiority over the counter-revolutionary forces.

    This is a powerful political movement aimed at rallying all the patriotic forces of Korea opposing Japanese imperialism around the communists so as to turn the balance of forces decisively in favour of the revolution. It occupies a very important place in our anti-Japanese national liberation struggle.

    Revolution is for the sake of the masses and it emerges victorious only when broad sections of the people participate in it. Winning over the masses, uniting them into a political force and relying on their inexhaustible strength is therefore a fundamental principle communists and revolutionaries must abide by in their revolutionary struggle.

    Winning over the anti-Japanese forces of all walks of life and forming them into an organized body has been an important task of the Korean communists from the beginning of the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle.

    On the basis of scientific assessment of the subjective and objective conditions created in the development of our revolution, we set forth the line on forming an anti-Japanese national united front at the beginning of the 1930s and strove consistently to implement it. At last, in May 1936, we formed the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, the first organization of the anti-Japanese national united front in our country.

    Within a very short space of time, the ARF has grown in scope and strength to become a powerful underground revolutionary organization and a broad-based mass organization, drawing a good many of the anti-Japanese masses under its wing.

    The masses with anti-Japanese leanings, including workers and peasants, and patriotic elements of all strata in Manchuria and the homeland widely embraced by the anti-Japanese national united front are now waging a vigorous revolutionary struggle, upholding the Ten-Point Programme of the ARF.

    Its lower bodies have been formed and are active over a vast area of Manchuria and in major cities and villages at home, including those in North and South Hamgyong, North and South Phyongan and Kangwon provinces. A ramified organizational network is being formed to cover the whole country.

    In our country today, not only workers and peasants, but many patriotic youths, students and intellectuals support the Ten-Point Programme and are launching determined action against Japanese imperialism. Meanwhile, they are volunteering for our army by the score. All forces who love the country and nation and aspire to democracy, including small- and medium-size entrepreneurs, small tradesmen, handicraftsmen and nationalists, are blended into a single stream of anti-Japanese struggle under communist leadership.

    Particular mention should be made here of the Korean Independence Army, a nationalist armed force. This army, caught in the snare of conservatism, rejected alliance with the communists for a long time, but upon learning the Declaration and Programme of the ARF, it earnestly supported them and expressed its readiness to form an alliance with us. Some of its units have already participated in joint operations with our units. This concerted action helps to strengthen unity and holds out the prospects of a more solid allied front.

    In addition, many progressive followers of Chondoism in the homeland, opposing the pro-Japanese activities of the reactionary Choe Rin clique, have also joined the struggle for the nation’s common cause. Upholding the Ten-Point Programme of the ARF and responding to its appeal, they are actively supporting and encouraging our anti-Japanese armed struggle. Dozens of their representatives came to see us and pledged that they would fight with us on the same front to win back our country. They are now offering us aid, both moral and material. The ARF has succeeded in winning over a great many Chondoists in a number of counties in the northern part of Korea and its influence among progressive believers across the country is increasing daily.

    Today the Korean people see the bright dawn of national liberation in the anti-Japanese armed struggle and in the ARF movement, which is growing under the immediate influence of this struggle. They are rising bravely in the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, certain that victory will be theirs.

    The present internal and external situation urgently demands that we Korean communists expand and develop the anti-Japanese national united front movement.

    Confronted with a crisis in which their colonial rule might collapse through our people’s anti-Japanese national salvation war of resistance, the Japanese imperialist aggressors are intensifying their colonial suppression and exploitation of the Korean people to an unprecedented degree. A huge military force and every conceivable means of repression are geared to this end. As the enemy’s suppression intensifies, the anti-Japanese spirit of the Korean people surges ever higher and their revolutionary advance becomes most active.

    To cope with this situation, the Korean communists must keep abreast of the upsurge of anti-Japanese spirit among the masses and strive to mobilize all the anti-Japanese patriotic forces of the people for the national liberation struggle.

    Pressing forward with the anti-Japanese national united front movement is also an important task for the development of world revolution.

    In imperialist countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy that have embarked upon full-scale fascism, fascist dictatorship has deprived the people of democratic freedoms and all political rights and the revolutionary movement is undergoing a severe trial. The danger of fascism is growing daily on a worldwide scale. Communists are countering this situation with an anti-fascist popular front movement and making positive efforts to organize and mobilize the broad masses in it.

    In this situation, strengthening our anti-Japanese national united front movement is the way we can contribute to weakening the allied international fascist forces and hastening the victory of all the international democratic forces and help to turn the international climate in favour of our own revolution.

    Korean communists must work energetically to deepen and advance this movement in conformity with the new demands of the revolution.

    It is most important here to make the ARF organizations more militant and expand and strengthen its ranks.

    The ARF is a united front organization formed by the communists in a situation where a Marxist-Leninist party is still absent in our country. At the same time, it is a powerful underground revolutionary organization.

    Therefore, by making its organizations militant and expanding and strengthening its ranks it will be possible to rally the anti-Japanese patriotic forces across the country in a unified way and, at the same time, to provide the Korean revolutionary movement with communist leadership.

    In order to strengthen the anti-Japanese national united front movement, we must expand the ARF’s organizational network deep into the homeland and actively organize the broad anti-Japanese masses in it.

    We must also intensify its organizational and political activities in every way, while making its organizations militant and skilfully employing flexible methods of work suitable to underground activities. Under the severe conditions in which the enemy is stepping up his suppressive measures, we should not give every organization the same name, but give them various names according to the actual conditions in each locality and the characteristics and political level of the people of all walks of life. Each organization should adopt various forms of activity in accordance with the actual conditions. This will make the ARF a more powerful revolutionary underground organization of a mass character, one that is active and deeply rooted among the broad masses of people.

    In order to further expand and develop the ARF movement, communist leadership must be established over the entire movement. Only when this leadership is firmly ensured can the anti-Japanese national united front movement be consistently pushed forward in conformity with the interests of all the people, including the working class, and develop successfully in accordance with revolutionary strategy and tactics. We communists, therefore, should firmly establish ourselves in leading positions in the organizations of the ARF and give them revolutionary guidance.

    In leading the movement, communists should clearly recognize any Right and “Left” tendencies and deal thoroughly with them.

    If we are to unite people of all strata, we must combine the revolutionary mass line correctly with the class line. We must guard against both “Left” and Right tendencies–such as establishing contacts only with workers and peasants, getting caught in the snare of class prejudice, and, in the name of the united front, linking up with anyone unconditionally. If we draw only workers and peasants into the ARF organizations and exclude the rest of the anti-Japanese patriotic forces, we may lose great masses of people with anti-Japanese sentiments. On the other hand, if we accept everybody who comes along, regardless of political considerations, alien elements of different shades will sneak in.

    We should therefore stick firmly to the principle of winning over as many of the patriotic, democratic forces opposing Japanese imperialism as possible and, at the same time, of completely isolating pro-Japanese elements, traitors to the nation and all other alien and hostile elements.

    In leading the anti-Japanese national united front movement it is also important to combine solidarity with struggle within its ranks in a proper manner.

    Proceeding from their own class interests, the anti-Japanese masses of various strata take different positions and attitudes in the struggle against Japanese imperialism. Because of their class limitations many of them are irresolute and waver in the anti-Japanese struggle, even though they hate Japanese imperialism. If we do not help them to overcome their vacillations, they will be unable to cope with the difficulties that crop up in the course of the struggle and to keep a firm anti-Japanese position and, in the end, will become turncoats and cause grave harm to the revolution.

    Communists must therefore strengthen solidarity with them while unfolding a principled struggle to overcome their indecision and weaknesses. This will preserve the ranks of the united front and bring its strength into full play even in a situation where the enemy is intensifying its military and ideological offensives.

    Third, Korean communists should strive to strengthen solidarity with the international revolutionary forces.

    This is the proletarian internationalist duty of Korean communists and an important guarantee for strengthening the world’s revolutionary forces, isolating the Japanese imperialists internationally and consolidating our own revolutionary forces.

    Particularly now when the Japanese imperialists have occupied Manchuria, are conducting a large-scale aggressive war against China and are making desperate preparations for war against the Soviet Union, it is a matter of urgency to safeguard the Soviet Union and strengthen solidarity with the Chinese revolutionary forces for the advance of both the world revolution and the Korean revolution.

    Japanese imperialism is the enemy not only of the Korean people but also of the Chinese people. Only when militant solidarity between the peoples of Korea and China is strengthened and the anti-Japanese united front is cemented in their struggle against the common enemy, Japanese imperialism, can they deal it heavier political and military blows and hasten the victory of the Korean and Chinese revolutions.

    It is on this principle that we Korean communists have fought together on the common battlefront in firm unity with the anti-Japanese forces of the Chinese people from the earliest days of the anti-Japanese armed struggle and, moreover, we have made great efforts to unite with all Chinese anti-Japanese units that could possibly add up to a big force in the war against Japan.

    There are various Chinese anti-Japanese units. Among them are those under the influence of the Communist Party of China and remnants of the former Northeast Army under the Kuomintang, which, impelled by the Manchurian Incident, rose to fight under an anti-Japanese save-the-nation banner. There are also anti-Japanese armed units formed by peasant rebels, such as the Red Spear Society and Broad Sword Society.

    The Korean communists long ago formed the Anti-Japanese Allied Army with the anti-Japanese guerrilla units led by the Chinese communists and have waged a dynamic joint anti-Japanese struggle.

    Moreover, we have striven to form an anti-Japanese allied front with the National Salvation Army and Self-defence Army formed out of the remnant units of the former Northeastern Army and with all other Chinese nationalist anti-Japanese units organized by peasant rebels. Right after the September 18 Incident we organized and perseveringly waged an active and self-sacrificing struggle, forming anti-Japanese soldiers’ committees and special detachments, dispatching political workers to these units and helping the special detachments to increase their role in every way. These steps helped to overcome their obstinacy in views, indecision and political ignorance and to form a united front.

    The KPRA has fought shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese nationalist anti-Japanese units in many successful joint operations, such as the attack on Dongning county town, inflicting powerful blows on Japanese imperialism. These battles demonstrated the united strength of the peoples of Korea and China and laid a firm foundation for all-round alliance and unity of action with these units.

    In the second half of the 1930s, when the main units of the KPRA advanced to the Mt. Paektu guerrilla base, we also persuaded many Chinese nationalist anti-Japanese units discouraged by the enemy’s “punitive” operations to join the Anti-Japanese Allied Army through revolutionary education or successful large-scale joint operations. (We not only sent political cadres to them but supplied them with provisions, clothes and weapons, though we ourselves were in need.) This raised their morale and inspired them with confidence in victory, leading them to fight actively on the anti-Japanese front.

    There are some among us, however, who are not successful in forming an allied front with the Chinese nationalist anti-Japanese units because of a narrow outlook. If we do not carry on effective work with these units, they will be unable to withstand the enemy’s relentless “punitive” operations and are liable to waver, surrender and turn traitor or take the backward step of becoming local bandits. Therefore, we must not ignore these units but strengthen our allied front with all of them, even if they do waver and are not steadfast; we must give them positive leadership, and continue to expand the anti-Japanese war so that we will isolate Japanese imperialism to the maximum and add muscle to our anti-Japanese armed forces.

    In our work with the Chinese nationalist anti-Japanese units the principle we should continue to follow is that we lead them not to surrender to Japanese imperialism but to fight, holding aloft the anti-Japanese save-the-nation banner, and not to encroach upon the interests of the people but to confiscate the property of the Japanese, their lackeys and pro-Japanese Chinese landlords and use it to obtain military supplies.

    On the basis of steadily consolidating unity with the Chinese communists, we must unite with all Chinese anti-Japanese units and all revolutionary forces in China, thus forming a broader Korean-Chinese anti-Japanese united front.

    In strengthening solidarity with the international revolutionary forces, it is also important to defend the Soviet Union, the motherland of the proletariat of the world.

    The Soviet Union, founded by Lenin, is the first socialist state and the first state of the proletarian dictatorship that truly champions the interests of the workers and peasants. It affords the first example of the victory of Marxism-Leninism and stands as the great bulwark of the international working class.

    It is the internationalist duty of the working class of all countries to protect the great Soviet Union. Revolution in each country develops and is defended on the basis of the militant unity and solidarity of the international working class. The growing might of the Soviet Union, the socialist state, is a source of great inspiration to the working class of the world and to the oppressed peoples resisting foreign imperialism and their own ruling classes. Therefore, we must struggle to defend the Soviet Union, the only state of the proletariat and the first of its kind in the world, thereby defending the world revolution and creating a more favourable international climate for the Korean revolution.

    Under the slogan “Defend the Soviet Union with arms!” we must ceaselessly attack the Japanese imperialists in the rear to strike constant terror in the hearts of these bandits and frustrate their aggressive machinations against the Soviet Union at every step.

    In future, too, in keeping with the requirements of the newly created situation and raising the banner of proletarian internationalism, we must be active in defending the Soviet Union, consolidate the anti-Japanese united front with the Chinese people and strengthen solidarity with the international working class and all oppressed colonial peoples. We must direct the spearhead of attack at the Japanese imperialist aggressors, the chief enemy of the Korean people, and shatter their ambition to dominate Asia.

    Fourth, Korean communists must take energetic steps to found a revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist party in our country.

    A Marxist-Leninist party is the vanguard of the working class and the General Staff in revolution. Only when we have a party of the working class can we rally broad masses interested in the revolution, successfully organize and mobilize them for revolutionary struggle and lead them to victory with correct strategy and tactics.

    The communist movement began early in our country under the influence of the October Socialist Revolution. Our first Communist Party was founded in 1925.

    Our working masses, who had long languished under Japanese imperialist colonial rule and feudal oppression, welcomed the founding of the Korean Communist Party, whose mission was to defend the interests of the have-nots, and they put their expectations and hopes in it. However, due to fundamental weaknesses and limitations, it could not satisfy these expectations and hopes.

    The party failed to take root among the working class and other broad sections of the people. It consisted mainly of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois intellectuals and show-off Marxists with a shaky class position. To make matters worse, it could not achieve unity of its ranks owing to the scramble for hegemony among the factionalists who had wormed their way to the top. Consequently, unable to overcome the Japanese imperialist suppression and the subversive activities of the factionalists, it was dissolved three years after it was founded.

    Under these circumstances, the Korean communists are confronted with the most urgent task of founding a revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist party, drawing serious lessons from the communist movement in the 1920s.

    However, we cannot create a revolutionary party the way factionalists did in the past, when a small number of communists got together, without any organizational and ideological preparation, set up a “party centre” and proclaimed the founding of the party.

    To found a revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist party, solid organizational and ideological groundwork must be laid before anything else.

    We have achieved considerable success in this respect through strenuous effort.

    Although we have not announced the party centre yet, we have set up party organizations and underground revolutionary organizations of various kinds in the units of the KPRA and among workers and peasants at home and abroad and provided them with a unified leadership. In the KPRA units a system of leading party organizations based on the principle of democratic centralism is now established and party organizational life is functioning regularly. In the areas along the Tuman and Amnok rivers party organizations have also been formed among broad masses of workers and peasants, and a unified leadership is ensured for them. In particular, an active struggle has been waged to form communist party organizations in the homeland in line with the policy of making independent preparations for founding a party, and significant success has been registered.

    In the flames of the armed struggle and in the course of the underground revolutionary struggle over the past several years, we have also reared the finest sons and daughters of the workers, peasants and other working people as communists, thereby building up the organizational core for founding a party.

    At the same time, we have waged an energetic struggle to overcome the factionalism left over from the communist movement of the 1920s, with the result that the sects have now basically been removed from our ranks, unity of ideology and purpose has been brought about and solidarity achieved within the revolutionary ranks.

    The Korean communists, basing themselves on the successes achieved so far, should endeavour to found a Marxist-Leninist party as soon as possible. To this end, we should push forward organizational and ideological preparations more vigorously on a nationwide scale.

    The important tasks of the Korean communists in this work are:

    First, to expand party organizations in the units of the KPRA and in the revolutionary mass organizations, including the ARF and the Anti-Japanese Youth League, in the homeland and in the areas along the Tuman and Amnok rivers, rally communists under a unified organizational system and steel them in militancy through party organizational life.

    Now that a sound centre of leadership has been formed for the Korean revolution, many communists of a new generation have been brought up, and the ARF and various other revolutionary organizations have taken root among the broad masses, it is an urgent task for us to expand party organizations and unite the communists. The successful fulfilment of this task will enable party organizations to take deep root among the masses, including workers and peasants, and, on this basis, guarantee a firm unified leadership for the Korean revolution.

    In strict accordance with the principle of independence in our preparations for the founding of a party, we must form party cells and groups wherever possible in units and regions and unite all communists organizationally. In particular, we should foster a revolutionary leading core in the main industrial areas and in farming and fishing villages in the homeland and expand the network of the ARF organizations by ourselves. On this basis, we should form party groups and cells among the workers and peasants and put them under a unified organizational system.

    In view of the historical lessons of the early communist movement, we should strictly adhere to the policy of building party organizations from the bottom. Only then can we draw on the class consciousness of the broad working masses and accept into the party progressive elements of worker and peasant origin who have been steeled and prepared in action and establish a most revolutionary and militant party with a sound mass basis.

    The party organizations in the KPRA units and in the different regions should strictly abide by the principle of democratic centralism in all their activities and increase both their fighting capacity and their vanguard role.

    Every party member should be faithful in his organizational life and steel himself in actual struggle to become an indefatigable revolutionary fighter, a communist.

    Second, to train large numbers of the best elements of worker and peasant origin in the revolutionary struggle to become the revolutionary core and thus build up a sound organizational backbone for founding a party.

    In light of the bitter lessons of the early communist movement in our country, this is vital for the consolidation and development of the party we are going to create.

    We must do active work in recruiting the finest sons and daughters of the workers and peasants into the KPRA and, in the flames of the armed struggle, bring them up to be communist core elements ever faithful to the revolution, to be the organizational backbone of the party. We must accept into party organizations those who are politically aware and steeled in militancy in the underground revolutionary struggle and train them to become revolutionary core elements.

    Furthermore, we must unite revolutionary workers, peasants and other broad masses of people with anti-Japanese sentiments in mass organizations, such as the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland, the Anti-Japanese Youth League, the Anti-Japanese Association and the Women’s Association, and train them to become ardent communists through actual struggle against Japanese imperialism.

    Third, to continue the all-out struggle against factionalism, prevent it from penetrating party and other revolutionary organizations and thus firmly ensure the purity of the communist ranks and unity in ideology and purpose.

    Unless factionalism is completely overcome, it is impossible to guarantee firm unity among the communists, achieve community of ideology, purpose and action based on the unified line, strategy and tactics of the Korean revolution and accomplish the historic task of founding a party.

    Factionalism in our country arose with intellectuals of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois and ruined gentry origin who, taking advantage of the revolutionary tide rising under the impact of the October Socialist Revolution, wormed their way into the ranks of the labour movement under the cloak of Marxism.

    Although they talked about communism and the emancipation of the working class, the factionalists utilized the labour movement as a means of gaining fame and high position and realizing careerist, political ambitions.

    As soon as they had sneaked into the labour movement, they split off into parties of five or groups of three for factionalist purposes and formed factions such as the Tuesday group, the M-L group and the Seoul-Shanghai group. Without any political views or theoretical basis, they continued factional strife to spread the influence of their own particular group and obtain hegemony. In the end, they destroyed the party.

    Even after the party was dissolved, they continued their factional strife here in Manchuria under the slogan of “party reconstruction.”

    Driven by the desire to spread their groups’ influence and gain fame and high position, the factionalists organized the adventurist and misguided May 30 Uprising. This incident resulted in exposing the underground revolutionary organizations, caused the death of many communists and other revolutionary people and did great harm to our communist movement. Moreover, the factionalist sycophants, with the backing of the national chauvinists, used the anti-“Minsaengdan” struggle for their own evil factionalist purpose and committed grave criminal acts–sacrificing many fine communists and revolutionaries and creating alienation, enmity and distrust within the revolutionary ranks, thereby weakening their unity and solidarity.

    If we had not corrected the “Leftist” error in the anti-“Minsaengdan” struggle promptly through a principled struggle against the factionalist sycophants and national chauvinists, things would have come to a serious pass beyond remedy in the communist and revolutionary movement.

    Factions have now been removed from our ranks in the main. But former factionalists who backslid to become national reformists and even spies for Japanese imperialism are now engaged in all manner of schemes to disrupt the communist ranks from within.

    Therefore, we should first make party members, soldiers of the KPRA and the broad revolutionary masses thoroughly aware of the crimes committed by the factionalist sycophants, who have inflicted tremendous harm on our communist and revolutionary movement. By so doing, we shall get them to maintain a constant and high degree of vigilance and hatred for the class enemy, to prevent the penetration of factionalism and to detect and smash the factionalist sycophants’ subversive and wrecking activities in good time.

    In addition to this, we must arm all party members and soldiers of the KPRA with Marxism-Leninism and with the line, strategy and tactics for the Korean revolution and thereby ensure community of ideology, will and action in the entire ranks.

    This is the prerequisite for fully guaranteeing the purity as well as the unity of ideology and will of the communist ranks and for preparing a sound organizational and ideological groundwork for the founding of a party.

    The Korean communists should carry out these main tasks faithfully in their preparations for founding a party and in this way accomplish the historic cause of establishing a revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist party at the earliest possible date.

    * * *

    The Korean communists should, above all, adhere to a firm independent position in order to crown their revolutionary tasks with success.

    An independent position means the fundamental stand of the communists–having confidence in the strength of their own people and responsibly carrying through the revolution in their country by their own efforts. Only when they maintain a firm independent position in the revolutionary struggle can they formulate revolutionary lines and policies corresponding to the actual conditions in their country, safeguard and implement them thoroughly and fight to the last for their country’s revolution no matter what the difficulties and hardships.

    The masters of the Korean revolution are the Korean people and the Korean communists. The Korean revolution must be carried out by the Korean people under the leadership of the Korean communists.

    We should never forget the bitter lesson of the past when the communist and revolutionary movement in our country suffered severe damage and experienced many twists and turns because the factionalists took to worship of great powers.

    The Korean communists must carry on revolutionary struggle by their own faith, build up their own strong revolutionary forces and firmly rely on them in leading the Korean revolution to victory.

    Revolution in each country is a link in the chain of world revolution and a component part of it. It is carried on with powerful assistance from the world’s revolutionary forces. It is the internationalist duty of the communists of each country to fight energetically for the triumph of the world revolution.

    Powerful assistance from the world’s anti-imperialist forces is very important in our national liberation struggle against the military-feudal Japanese imperialist aggressors, who are allied with world imperialism.

    But no matter how great the assistance of the international revolutionary forces may be, the Korean communists cannot lead the Korean revolution to victory if they fail to map out the line, strategy and tactics for the revolution to fit the realities of their country and, on this basis, solidly build up their own revolutionary forces.

    The Korean communists will continue to strengthen solidarity with the international revolutionary forces, reject worship of great powers and Right and “Left” opportunism, take a firm independent stand in leading the Korean revolution, and fulfil the historic cause of national liberation without fail.

    Victory and glory belong to the Korean communists, who are fighting unyieldingly under the unfurled banner of the Korean revolution.

    Long live the Korean revolution!

    Long live the world revolution!